Headington WI members Mrs W Whitehead, left, Mrs C Bowman, Mrs O West, back, and Mrs GS Combes in 1954
WHEN the Women’s Institute at Headington, in Oxford, decided to stage an Elizabethan pageant, it faced one problem – who would make the costumes?
They didn’t have to look far. One of its oldest members, 85-year-old Mrs C Bowman, stepped in.
In six weeks in 1954, Mrs Bowman made 11 costumes, in rich velvets, silks and brocades, often working from 6am to 11pm to cut out and sew them on her electric machine.
She said at the time: “ I sewed clothes for my brothers and sisters from the time I was 12. But this was the first time I had attempted historical costumes.”
The pageant, at Highfield Parish Hall, featured traditional songs and dances, with occasional dialogue.
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