IT has long been said that if you want to get ahead get a hat!

If this is so then by all accounts of its success over the past two years then the third annual Bridport Hat Festival weekend in September sounds like the place to be.

The event, organised by Snook Hatters of Bridport, established in 1896, looks a thoroughly entertaining and interesting way of mixing the past with the present and it certainly brings back memories to many of when wearing a hat was de rigeur for every occasion.

Hats are available in most departmental stores and I suppose there are still a few hatters establishments around but there are many of us who recall that even in small towns a dedicated millinery shop could always be found.

Hats for all occasions were available, from the humble workaday variety worn when going shopping to the more flamboyant type to be worn at special events and very often to show off at church on Sundays.

My first ‘real’ hat was the essential Easter straw bonnet, purchased at a cost of 6d from Woolworths and worn until it disintegrated, which wasn’t long.

Then there was the hat which was part of the secondary school uniform but as I used it as a hand protector carrying a case full of text books – it ended its days looking more of a pudding basin than when it started life.

Other than military headgear, wartime seemed to have put paid to hats, giving way to the ubiquitous headscarf and now, other than shapeless woolly caps, only events such as weddings bring forth the hats worthy of the name.

Even then, the ‘fascinator’, an apology for a hat, has taken over to a degree. And when did you last see a man wearing a titfer he could doff to a lady?

A beanie or baseball cap worn back to front could hardly have the same effect.

Bridport Hat Festival could cause the pendulum to swing back, telling us that wearing a hat could put us ahead of the rest!