Christine Fisher-Lathwell – Helping out at the Fashion Shows

Simon: Did you ever go to the Fashion Shows? They were sort of quite grand events weren’t they?

Christine: I went to the ones that my daughter was in. I’ve got pictures of her as a 3-year-old … she was 3 and 4 and they did a Fashion Show in the main building in Pack and Cullifords, and one of the Window Dressers was her help mate. She was very, very tall, Julie, so Julie and Laura went along and yes, so I was at that Fashion Show, but during the other Fashion Shows, we had to produce a catwalk for them and so we already had these things that had hardboard that you dropped it in to, to make the … like you would have a rigging for a Band to play on, so they were sort of kept downstairs in the Cellar if I remember rightly, so we would put out all these squares with legs and then drop the hardboard into it.

Simon: As a raised stage.

Christine: Yes, so it was raised platform and we had to make some stairs, sorry it was wood, not hardboard. And then I think there was a matting that went over it. So, we had to make all those things, and then, when the Fashion Show was on, we would have to be at the back helping the models into their clothes, so we rarely got the chance to look out and see how it was going, but occasionally I can remember nipping out quickly to the loo, going down the back stairs and sort of going up the main stairs and sort of watching as the models walked along.