"86 years ago, most girls and women wore hats. Most of these hats had imposing names then too. We had pork pie hats, cloche hats, and panama hats..." Jessie Moston was born in 1909 and has lived in this area all her life. She had many stories she could have told, but she chose to tell this one about her grandmother and her dog Pip because, even all these years later, it still just makes her laugh!
86 years ago, most girls and women wore hats. Most of these hats had imposing names then too. We had pork pie hats, cloche hats, and panama hats. My mother had a big black straw hat with a big red rose on it. At Brownhills School where I was one of the first 90 pupils in 1921, we were absolutely not allowed to be seen without our hats. Our college lecturer too told us that only women of a certain kind went about hatless in London. Therefore, of course, when my grandmother came to visit us from Manchester, she wore a hat. All Grandmothers wore beautiful hats and mine was no exception. It was a magnificent creation on which some hardworking milliner had lovingly stitched a collection of feathers, blue, purple, pink and green. In those days people who did not have a hat stand usually tossed their hats and coats onto the front room settee and that is what Grandma Cartwright did. When she came to get ready to go home, I heard a hullabaloo in the living room and my sister Gladys and I rushed in to see what had happened. There Grandma's hat was - it was a sorry sight. Most of the feathers were on the floor and a few were ludicrously sticking out of Pip's mouth. He looked as though he'd been enjoying a good time, but after he had been told off, he soon realised that he was well and truly 'On the dog shelf' We found all of this very funny, but Grandma wasn't laughing. We explained that Pip was only doing what came naturally. He probably thought that he'd seen an inert bird and promptly went to attack it. Grandma wasn't amused! | 
