The Winkle Club

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Last week @RasmaSandra wrote about the Pearly Kings and Queens of London, a charitable organisation whose members wear suits decorated with mother-of-pearl buttons to attract attention and help collect donations for charity. This began with Henry Croft in 1875 and is still based around a few families with historic connections. Last weekend I visited Hastings and was interested to find that the fishing community there has a similar organisation called the Winkle Club, founded in 1900. Presumably they heard of the Pearly Kings and decided it was a good idea. These members dress in suits decorated with silver-painted winkle shells. Members are presented with a winkle shell which they have to keep on their person, and produce when requested to ‘Winkle up’ otherwise they have to pay a fine (into the charity pot). Membership is generally made up of fishing families and local residents but there have been some famous members, including Sir Winston Churchill who was presented with a golden winkle in 1955. You can read more about the club here, and see a news clip of Churchill receiving his winkle. https://winkleclub.org/ The photo shows one of the decorated suits, on display at the Fishermen’s museum in Old Hastings.