THE WOMEN’S GROUP VISIT HOPE HOUSE COSTUME MUSEUM
On a glorious sunny day nineteen members plus five friends visited Hope House Costume Museum in Alstonefield. The museum is situated in a former barn in the grounds of a beautiful old farmhouse belonging to the owner Notty Hornblower and her husband. On arrival we looked around the museum starting on the ground floor with a display about the Brontes. The displays continued upstairs with themed costumed displays on Black dresses, the New Look, a Wartime wedding, Suffragettes and a very elegant 1920s themed display. After we had browsed for a while admiring the beautiful fabrics and other accessories we sat down to listen to Notty talking about how she began collecting costumes and also telling us the history of many of the items. It was fascinating to hear the great lengths she had gone to in collecting artefacts and furnishings for the displays to accurately recreate the respective periods. We then wandered through the garden into her lovely home for a delicious afternoon tea provided and served by ladies from the village with half of the group sitting in a sunny sheltered courtyard and the other half in her elegant parlour. We drove home through beautiful Derbyshire countryside and are grateful to the five members who kindly offered to drive and it was obvious from everyone’s comments that an enjoyable time was had by all. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th September at 7.00 pm in the Parish Room when the musical trio Dream a Little Dream will entertain us on what will be our fundraising event of the year for our chosen charity Good News Family Care. Refreshments will be provided and there will be a Tombola. Everyone including other family members will be welcome to join us.
Jean Lee