Although I am an expert maker of many types of straw work, my specialism and passion is the Straw Hat Industry. For more than forty years I have researched the industry and learned the traditional straw plaiting techniques. My research has taken me to the USA and to many countries in Europe where as well as undertaking research, I have taught and lectured. From 2007 until my retirement in 2015, I was a curator in charge of the Hat Industry and Headwear collection at Culture Trust Luton. Over the years I have appeared on TV, radio and film either as a specialist contributor, as a maker or by providing props. Hat Plaiting has now been recognised as a Critically Endangered Craft on the HC Red List. The need for me to pass on my wealth of knowledge has now become vitally important and it is my mission to share knowledge so more people learn these disappearing skills. For this reason I have started the process of developing an educational website: hatplait.co.uk and Instagram @hat.plait  My long awaited book, Straw Plaiting Heritage Techniques for Hats, Trimmings, Bags and Baskets will be published by Herbert Press (Bloomsbury Publishing) in the UK and Europe on 17 August. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/straw-plaiting-9781789940756/ North American publication date is 17 October and in Australia 28 November 2023. For the first time instructions for making more than 50 traditional hat plaits are included. There are also comprehensive and fascinating history chapters. I have also published, Swiss Straw Work, Techniques of a Fashion Industry which is a comprehensive instruction book covering techniques used in the Swiss hat materials manufacturing industry. It is published in Switzerland as Zauberhaftes Stroh. I am also co-author of an instructional book for making Corn Dollies, A Handful of Straw and have written several ethnographic research papers detailing the history of working with straw. I am very proud to be a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship holder (QEST) and Founder Member of the British Hat Guild. I am a member of subject specialist groups: Straw Craftsmen in the UK, the National Association of Wheat Weavers (NAWW) and regional group California Straw Arts Group (CSAG) in the USA.