The Daft Old Bats

The 'Daft Old Bats' was first registered in November 2005 and had tripled in size (OK, from 1 member to 3) by the end of the week. We waited till after Christmas to meet, by which time there were 4 of us, and we now have around 20 complete Bats, plus several guest Bats (who have attended 1 or 2 events) and potential Bats(who have expressed interest, but whom we haven't yet met.)More

At present our catchment area is 'Beds & North Bucks' to reflect the initial membership, but now that other chapters have been founded in North Herts and Milton Keynes we have some membership overlap with them. While we welcome new members from anywhere, and indeed have had members in all counties that border Bedfordshire, we try to arrange our events to be accessible to members in those counties.More

The Red Hat Society was founded in California (where all really silly ideas come from), inspired by English poet Jenny Joseph's famous Warning - you know, the one that starts When I am an old woman I shall wear purple ...*

The poem looks forward to the freedom from social conventions that old age can bring and ends by wondering whether one should 'practise a little now' before it strikes: Daft Old Bats answer YES! to that question and proudly flounce around together in our purple with red hats (feather boas and bling optional but encouraged), flirting with public officials, terrifying gangs of young men and having our photo taken.More

We go on Outings -see our Events page for more info about that - but we also do lunch, we hang around in teashops and pubs and hit the shops. Sometimes we meet up with other chapters for massed events - there's an annual National Convention and there have been trips to the West End, the races and to take part in large parades. Sometimes overseas Red Hat ladies visit us, too.

What we do doesn't have to be exciting in its own right (though it can be if we jolly well like) - but just wearing the Colours together, which means you're part of an international group of women who share the same sense of fun, who you can have a laugh with and they won't think you're weird - all that can give you a natural and (so far ...) legal high just walking down the street.

And yes, we are all perfectly aware of the saying about red hats, thank you, and if you are wondering whether there is any truth in it, well, you'll just have to wonder, won't you?

*We won't quote any more here, because we don't want to reduce sales of bona fide copyright-cleared versions, from which Ms Joseph earns well-deserved moolah. We also don't want to get sued ...

Last updated August 2010 Top of page