About The Red Hat Society

“ODE TO THE RED HAT SOCIETY” By Sue Ellen Cooper

A poet put it very well.  She said when she was older,
She wouldn’t be so meek and mild.  She threatened to get bolder.
She’d put a red hat on her head, and purple on her shoulder.
She’d make her life a warmer place, her years much golder.

We read that poem, all of us, and grasped what she is saying.                                   
We do not need to sit and knit, although we all are graying.
We think about what we can do.  Our plans we have been laying.
Instead of working all the time, we’ll be out somewhere playing.

We take her colors to our hearts, and then we all go shopping
For purples clothes and hats of red, with giant brims a-flopping.
We’re tired of working all the time, and staying home and mopping.
We order pies and chocolate fudge, and rich desserts with topping.

We crown ourselves as duchesses and countesses and queens.
We prove that playing dress-up isn’t just for Halloween.
We drape ourselves in jewels, feathers, boas and sateen.
We see ourselves on television and in magazines.
                           
We laugh, we cry, we hug a lot.  We keep each other strong.          
When one of us goes out for fun, the rest all go along     
We gad about we lunch and munch, in one big happy throng.                   
We’ve found the place where we fit in, the place we all belong.

Some fast Facts on the Red Hat Society

How it started (From the QMB) ·      
It all started with a simple gift.  Sue Ellen Cooper gave a dear friend Linda Murphy, a copy of the poem “Warning” by British author Jenny Joseph, and a bright red vintage hat, to celebrate her 55th birthday, in November 1997.

·        They went to lunch, caused a stir, and so it began.

·        The Red Hat Society officially formed in April 1998 when Sue Ellen and a group of five friends, dressed in purple clothes, and wore red hats, in the spirit of the poem, & met for afternoon tea. 

  ·        The Red Hat Society has grown to more than 40,000 Chapters with about 1 million members worldwide, with chapters in unlikely places, such as Japan and Egypt.  These stats are as at 2004.

·        Each Chapter registers with the USA as a group of the Red Hat Society.  This enables, via a website, the Exalted Queen Mother Sue Ellen to be in touch with Queen’s worldwide, via email, and a quarterly news sheet sent via snail mail.

·        The Red Hat Society is a ‘disorganisation’ and therefore has no rules or regulations. There are no meetings and no committees.

·        The Queen is she who starts a new Chapter in her area, and is surrounded by ladies of her Court such as her Vice Queen, Duchesses and Countesses.  In the spirit of the play, each lady takes on a Royal name.

The Ladies of the Court dress in Red Hats and purple dresses known as regalia and with as much glitz and glamour as possible.

·        The Queen chooses her Court however she pleases, with a Vice Queen, Duchesses, Countess, or whatever ladies of a Royal Title would like to assist the Queen in the running of their Chapter.

Since this is a “NO RULES” DISORGANISATION, The Red Hat Society has no By Laws to follow and this is a particularly thrilling part of the Group

---