Last Tuesday the museum was visited by the Red Cap “chapter” of Capelle A/D IJssel which is part of the Red Hat Society.
The Red Hat Society is an international group of ladies over 50 that twice monthly organises outings: one to chat and one cultural, this month the Houweling Telcom Museum had the honour, after a reception in the “Bunker” the group got a guided tour, more about this organisation underneath
The RED HAT SOCIETY
The Red Hat Society came into existence more or less by chance. Inspired by the poem ‘Warning’ by the English poet Jenny Joseph from 1961, one Sue Ellen Cooper from California had given a friend, also in her fifties, a red hat as a gift. In that poem, the I-figure warns that she will do inappropriate things when she is old, for example, dressed in purple with a red hat “that does not suit me and does not fit me.” In other words: “nice puh”.
When Cooper went to tea with a group of friends, the whole group put on a red hat as a joke. Still other friends heard about it and did the same. After publications in a few newspapers and magazines and a broadcast of the Today show in 2000, there was a movement.
At the end of February 2005 there was an article in the Dutch paper NRC/Handelsblad about the Red Hat Society. As a result of this story, the Red Hat Society was founded in the Netherlands. No one could have imagined that so many women would be inspired. Not only in America but all over the world, women are enthusiastic. There are already more than 1 million members worldwide. There are already more than 100 departments active in the Netherlands. There is no objective, no politics, no religion or anything. It’s about fun and friendship after you’re fifty. Middle-aged women get used to not standing out anymore, to being invisible, we don’t feel like it. Dressing up in brightly colored and sometimes bizarre clothes gives you the opportunity to give space to your personality and your playful spirit.
Read more: https://www.roterodames.nl/over-ons/
