ANENT the recent letters about hats, I would like to add a contribution, although your correspondents may already know the information.

My late Uncle George was in the Clydebank ARP (Air Raid Patrol) during the war and was instructed that if they ever had to attend a casualty, the first thing the patrol had to do was remove their steel helmets, otherwise the patient received a broken nose when the helmet fell off: a piece of information that I hope neither your readers nor their young people will ever need to make use of.

James M Arnold,

Auchencrannog, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran.

THE long and amusing correspondence about headgear must surely be drawing to closure, yet I do wonder how many bowlers still reside at the back of cupboards with the name RW Forsyth and one's name and size punched into the inside headband. I still remember after leaving school being advised to purchase one. On leaving the shop with what I felt was a flowerpot on my head I was amazed that the onlookers did not fall about laughing.

The most famous Glasgow bowler must surely be that of the late John Rannie of John Brown's Yard. It was to be waved at the launch of so many ships especially when royalty was present. It was allegedly lined with steel to ward off the dropping of rivets from the upper decks. I understand an original is still to be admired in Eaglesham, purloined during the working up of the Queen Elizabeth.

I still find myself, when faced with what I think is the wearing of inappropriate headgear muttering the Glaswegian put down, "See you, if I had a hat like that I wouldnae wear it."

R Johnston,

Barcapel Avenue, Glasgow.