Women’s Voluntary Service

The women’s voluntary service (WVS) was established in 1938 as a support unit for the ARP (Air raid precaution service)

The WVS did not have a compulsory uniform as it was not free and many women simply went to work in their own clothes wearing a WVS badge on their lapel.

The WVS did vital work during the war by organising first aid courses,  evacuations, clothes collections for the needy and handing out food, drink and warm clothing to returning troops.

Admiral Costumes hold an excellent range of war-time clothing and other vintage 1940’s wear at our store in Newton Longville. There is a great selection to choose from which is available for hire at very competitive rates.

For 1940’s style clothing for blitz parties and war-time events, call us on 01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

Tudor Days

The life and times of the Tudors is everyone's favourite period of history with the colourful pageants, rich clothing, feasts, hunting activities and the music associated with Henry VIII and  Queen Elizabeth I.

Many schools hold Tudor days as part of the national curriculum, where the children dress up, make crafts, eat food and learn all about life in Tudor times, whether rich or poor, bringing history to life.

We have an excellent stock of both adult and children’s Tudor costumes suitable for this type of event. You can go as a queen or lady in waiting, king or prince, or even as a poor peasant or jester.

Costumes are available for hire from just £16.00 including all accessories. Just give us a call on        01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

 

The Tolpuddle Martyrs

The Tolpuddle story is about how ordinary farm working people in West Dorset, combined together to defend their families from unfair pay cuts.

Life in villages like Tolpuddle during the 1830s was extremely hard and getting steadily worse. Some farm workers could bear the cuts in pay no longer and fought back by smashing the new threshing machines which caused them to be punished severely.

In 1834, farm workers in west Dorset formed a trade union, but the leaders were arrested and sentenced to seven years transportation. Thousands of people marched through London, signed petitions and held protest meetings to demand their freedom.

This was the start of the trade union movement in Great Britain as the Tolpuddle Martyrs were returned home in triumph due to the campaign.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs are celebrated in Tolpuddle museum on the 19-21^st July 2013 and are the subject of a new drama production for Townsend Productions.

We were delighted to have been able to provide some very authentic looking costumes for a photo-shoot depicting life for the farm workers in the 1830’s.

For more information on our excellent range of authentic period clothing and historical costumes, please give us a call on 01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

Pictures with kind permission from Townsend Productions

School Play Costumes

Have you found the crumpled letter at the bottom of the school bag yet? You know! the one that requires you to produce a fabulous costume for TOMORROW!

Every week we get calls from frantic parents, desperate to conjure up a superb costume at short notice for school plays, events, assemblies, parties or book days.

DON’T PANIC – give us a call. It is more than likely that we will have something to suit.

We have an excellent range of children’s costumes to hire from ages 5 – 13, with masses of accessories to choose from and with hire prices from only £16.00 for the whole outfit, we offer excellent value.

If you are lucky enough to discover costume instructions in good time, then come along and select and reserve your outfit. If you cannot find what you are looking for we can source or even make it to measure for you.

So next time you have a costume demand, call us on 01908 372504  we love to help you with costumes.

Fancy Dress in MK17

Where would you go to get yellow tights, green shirt, breeches, pixie shoes, jerkin and leather apron?

That’s just what we’ve been asked for this week to help costume a child for a school production of Beauty and the Beast.

All kinds of clothing items and combinations are required for school productions, amateur dramatics, murder-mystery parties or just for personal events.

Here at Admiral Costumes we are just like a giant dressing-up box, with a massive stock of all kinds of costume items including coloured tights, waistcoats, bow ties, hats, gloves, headdresses, belts and jewellery accessories in all colours, styles and sizes.

If we don’t have what you require then we will either source it or make it for you at very reasonable rates.  Items we have made recently include: striped waistcoats, polka dot 1950’s dress, tie, 2 matching chinese tunics, a child’s sheep outfit and a 1940’s style suit.

Give us a call if you have a costume challenge on 01908 372504, we love to help.

www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

 

Catch 22

Based on the novel by Joseph Heller, Catch 22 follows the story of the 256^th squadron during WWII.

Paranoid bombardier, Captain John Yossarian, thinks everyone is trying to kill him and avoids flying on all combat missions, using all kinds of excuses and ploys.

He thinks that by pleading insanity he will be dismissed from the squadron but the ‘catch 22’ is that by refusing to fly in combat, he shows sane behaviour and is destined to remain in the war.

The dark humour of Catch 22 portrays the serious reality of life in a US squadron and of men trying to keep sane during the horrors of second world war.

We are delighted to be providing military wear for Fourways Theatre Company’s production of this play showing in Oxford from the 7^th February.

For more information on our period army, navy and airforce uniforms, please contact us on        01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

Burns Night costumes

Burns suppers are usually held on or around the 25^th January to celebrate the life and poetry of Robert Burns the Scottish poet.
A haggis is celebrated and consumed along with a rendition of the address to the haggis:

Fair fa your honest, sonsie face

Great chieftain of the pudding-race!
Aboon them a tak your place
Painch, tripe, or thairn:
Wheel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As langs my arm

 If you are attending a burns night supper or event, then do give us a call. We have an excellent selection of tartan items that will help you get into the spirit of the evening with a kilt, beret, sash or tam o’shanter.

 

Call us now on 01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

 

Old King Cole

Old King Cole

Old King Cole was a merry old soul,

And a merry old soul was he,
He called for his pipe and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fiddle
And a very fine fiddle had he.
Oh there’s none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

 We are delighted to be helping Hanslope Entertainments Group with costumes for their production of Old King Cole, their very own pantomime, which will be showing at Hanslope village hall at the end of February.

 
For more information on our costumes for pantomime, give us a call on 01908 372504 or visit our website www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

 

 

Aladdin

The Aladdin fairy story remains a popular title for pantomime with a wonderful opportunity to dress the show in fantastic oriental and Chinese style robes, clothes and accessories.

Aladdin, a poor young Chinese boy is recruited by a wicked uncle and sorcerer. He orders Aladdin to retrieve an old oil lamp from a cave, but Aladdin gets trapped in the cave and rubs the magic ring that was given to him by the sorcerer and is transported back to his mother.

His mother cleans the old oil lamp by rubbing it and a genie appears granting the bearer a wish. Aladdin is rich and moves to a beautiful palace and despite Ebeneza the wicked uncle stealing the lamp, he marries a princess and lives happily ever after.

We have an excellent set of costumes for this pantomime, from Chinese jackets and trousers and matching sets of Chinese tunics for the chorus, to the magnificent Ebeneza and genie. We have a selection of costumes for Aladdin and the princess with a choice of wedding outfits for the walk down at the end.

For more information on our costumes for Aladdin and other popular pantomimes, visit our website http://www.admiralcostumes.co.uk/?page_id=71

 

 

 

2012 at Admiral Costumes – a year to remember

As 2012 draws to a close, it’s not only time to look forward to the exciting year ahead, but also to reflect on the wonderful year we have had at Admiral Costumes.

We have met some lovely people, been to some fabulous places and have seen some wonderful shows.

We started 2012 with a move to our new Newton Longville store, which not only gave us more space but a large shop window in which to display our costumes and accessories. We have displayed many outfits and themes throughout the year, the highlight being our clothes through the ages vintage display by Ruby’s Vintage.

The new year parties gave way to the panto season with local am dram societies choosing us to costume their productions. We had several school productions in February and also supplied costumes for World Book Day, roman and tudor days in local schools.

St Patricks Day, the 200 year anniversary of Dickens and the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic gave groups plenty of excuses to dress up and this continued throughout the year with the Jubilee celebrations and The Olympics.

We provided costumes for a 1940’2 vintage photo shoot, which gave us some fabulous images for our website and pictures from our 70’s shoot at Experience the Country in Newton Longville were selected for Vintage Life Magazine.

We also held our own 50’s style shoot in a retro caravan supplied by Billy One Horn and had a masked ball and 60’s shoot at The London Palladium. Some of these pictures have appeared in Modern Vintage Magazine.

We were delighted to supply costumes for a vintage fashion show to raise money for Crohns and Colitis UK charity.

This year we have supplied bespoke waistcoats for barber shop quartets, an outfit for an Edwardian dressage competition and 1950’s usherettes uniforms for a private party at the Dorchester. We have also supplied costumes for a Christmas photo-shoot for a well known high street store.

Shows we have costumed include: The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, Babes in the Wood, The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, The Birthday Party, Blythe Spirit, Ragtime, The Gondoliers, The Importance of being Earnest, Guys and Dolls, Allo Allo, Cabaret, Whodunnit, And Then there were None and Arabian Nights.

A big thank you to all our customers for their support and we look forward to working with you all in 2013.

www.admiralcostumes.co.uk

2012 in pics - our calendar highlights

Our costumes have been used for a wide variety of events and occasions throughout 2012