Sam and I had a jolly morning at the Didcot Railway Museum looking at hats. There was surprisingly quite a range; different shaped peaks, soft crowns, hard crowns, various embroidery techniques and colours but each hat unmistakeably belonged to a First Great
Western employee. Trains induce a mysterious fascination particularly for small boys, some of whom never grow out of it! In fact the Didcot Railway Museum was founded by four, not so small, 16 year old boys in the 60s.
For more information see their website: http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/visitor_information/gws.html
I’m sure that the excitement of being in control of a huge, powerful engine hurtling through the countryside is something that all enthusiasts dream of, young and old. And the mark of the driver is of course the hat. I wonder how many scaled down,
train driver’s dressing up costumes there are. In the Witney and District Museum there is a child’s bus conductor’s uniform complete with hat. Not quite the same fan base but I think our next visit might have to be to see this. This all reminds me of my favourite programme when I was a child which I was excited to find out was one of Sam’s favourites too. What I am about to share with you will date Sam and I to a particular decade! Do you remember this? “And as if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0bSH_XFWMs
(If you haven’t got 12 minutes to watch this then skip to about 1.45 for the costume shop action!)
