Women just want to have fun

FOR the ladies of the Red Hat Society, rules don’t apply once you’re over 50.

The Red Hat Society was originally founded in America, but has developed branches all over the world.

It allows groups of women over 50, many of whom dedicated their time to others in their younger days, to dedicate time to themselves.

Queen of Cairns Red Hat Society ‘Tropical Pearls’ chapter Rosemary Iloste said most members of the group had done a lot of fundraising over the years and so joined the group to exclusively raise fun.

“There’s a lot of ladies over 50 living on their own and this gives them a support group,” she said.

“We go out for lunch once a month, organise activities and meetups, attend functions, go and see a movie if there’s one that appeals to us and generally do what we like.”

There are three Red Hat Society Chapters in Cairns. The ‘Tropical Pearls’ is the largest with 40 members.

“It was just a group of friends deciding they wanted to get together and form a group,” Ms Iloste said.

“They got together for cof- fee on the Esplanade one day and decided they wanted to form a group.”

“The Tropical Pearls are only five years old.

“I’d been involved with a previous Red Hat Society group before I joined them so I’ve been doing it for 12 years.”

Last month, the international Red Hat Society celebrated its 20 year anniversary.

Chapters across the world were tasked with marking the celebration.

The ‘Tropical Pearls’ chose a trip on the Kuranda Scenic Railway.

The Red Hat ladies adopt a royal theme, dressing in red and purple, adorning themselves in purple and using royal titles such as ‘Queen’, ‘Duchess’ or ‘Master of purse’ (meaning treasurer) in group meetings.

Ms Iloste said they always drew a crowd while out and about.

“When we took the train up to Kuranda, we had so many tourists taking photos of us, it was unreal,” she said. “We’re ladies with attitude. “It’s all about supporting each other through the hassles that happen at old age and having fun together.”