FORMER Vauxhall Trim Shop girl and beauty queen Linda Kilpatrick has been back in Luton from her home in Huston USA.
And although she was here only 10 years ago Linda, 64, confessed she hardly recognised the town where she grew up.
“They’ve pulled down so many old building,” she said. “I can’t get my bearings any more.
“There’s hardly anything left of the Luton I knew. It’s become very modern. There’s no character, no statues.” But one of her biggest bugbears is that so few people appear to know about Luton’s proud history in the hat trade.
“There’s a huge museum in Cheshire called Hat Works but Luton has nothing, which is very sad,” she said.
Linda, now a widow and the author of 60 books on knitting designs, started her working life at J Collett in Guildford Street.
“My grandmother, great aunt and sisters all worked in the hat industry but most of the factories have gone,” she said.
She joined the Trim Shop – “The best place in town because of the high wages” – and was runner-up in the Vauxhall Mirror Miss Spectacular contest.
She has written several blogs about her Luton visit. Read them at http://teacupmilliner.com