Roaring '20s Garden Party

Saturday 13th June 2026 – The Roaring Twenties!
 
In the 1920s the opinion emerged that the history of everyday life should be preserved and celebrated in special museums leaving a legacy that we still value and enjoy today. 

The delightful ‘secret’ walled garden at Strangers Hall Museum in Norwich was the perfect setting for a 1920s themed garden party to celebrate a hundred years since the gifting of the Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell in 1926 and Strangers Hall in 1923 to the City of Norwich.  
Several members arrived dressed in period costume, some wearing original pieces.  The C&TA resources team had arranged an impressive display of period dresses showing everything from plain white lawn day dresses to shimmering evening creations and a stunning silk, beaded wedding dress worn in 1923 by Marion Marjorie Nickell-Lean for her marriage to Sir William Prince-Smith, 3rd Baronet of Hillbrook in Yorkshire.
 
Lisa Smith-Clare gave a diverting talk about the radical changes of styles in everyday dress for the women who had come through the struggles and trauma of the first world war.  She wore a beautiful dress and cloche hat that she had made from original 1920s patterns and we delighted in the image of outrageous flappers painting butterflies on their knees – maybe an activity for future events?!