Ukraine Sunflowers

I did a charity swimming hat design in aid of the people of Ukraine…

I need to say before you all ask: No, sorry I don’t have any left. I would love to keep doing these, but all the productions costs were covered by me and friends (see credits) because I wanted people to know what they paid for the hat was entirely going to charity, not just sale profits. Working at less than zero income for each hat there are only so many can afford to sell, so I had to cap the hats at 250, but it was definitely worthwhile doing. If you have one, thank you very much for your donation, and my apologies to those who didn’t manage to get one!

Total sent to charities in aid of Ukraine: £3308
…plus £73 more in its way, see note below about The Last Hats
Hats printed: 250

Beneficiaries:
British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal
DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) Ukraine Appeal

Credits: Huge thanks to
Swimhatco.com,
Hilary Jenkins Spangler,
Tony Leigh,
Anne Farmer
who all contributed to production costs, and thank you to Swimhatco.com for doing such a fabulous printing job, yet again.

The design is my original design, based on a combination of the flag of Ukraine and a field of Sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. And here are some photos of Hilary at Clevedon Marine Lake, modelling the first hat to be worn. The weather obliged us with strong winds and a sunny day – that’s the sea coming over the Marine Lake wall…

Below: The payments to British Red Cross and DEC, split 50/50
…and yes, Nancy actually my middle name if you were wondering.

The Last Hats

16/06/22
One final payment of £73 will soon be on its way to a Ukraine charity. This includes the donations for the very last 4 hats which will shortly be on their way to the USA, and thence to Ukraine: An American customer of mine messaged and asked did I have any hats at all left? A long shot, she knew, but hers had been spotted at the pool by a Ukrainian family who had loved the story and wanted to send some hats back home. She wanted to buy some hats for them, if she could. Timing is everything: I had only just decided it was probably safe to let the spare hats go, reserved in case of emergency, and the couple that had been allocated to people who but they’d not replied. And so I thought I’d share this final story about the last 4 hats with you.

About Flags

One final word: Clevedon Marine Lake has a line of flags along the sea wall, it did not have a Ukraine flag, so I asked Marlens – the Marine Lake charity – if I bought them a flag, would they put it up? They not only did, but decided that they would pay for it too. So thank you Marlens for paying for it, Alan for putting it up, just in time for Lake Day last weekend. And that’s me at the lake, with matching cossie from Batoko. Flag made to order in super-quick time by the very helpful people Mr Flag, from Swansea.