Where did the Sargent of Arms Hat come from?
When Fish Creek first started as a club, we recognized we needed to have something to collect our fines in, so being new and not having much, we looked around the dining room and picked up a wicker bread basket. This was used for a few of the meetings – but it did not give off that satisfying sound “clink”, as the coins hit the bottom of the dish.
Looking for something that would have a long handle and supply the sound, Linda Morris found a bed pan at one of her garage sale exhibitions. We used that collector for quite a few years, however in all the moves, it seemed to have been lost, so the Sergeant at Arms (who used to wear that red hat while collecting), started to just use their hat. One night it was left on a table, too close to the ambience candles, and it began to melt, hence the large melted piece on the hat!