Best hat competition 2025
The array of fabulous, ingenious and outlandish hats was astounding! The ingenuity of the talented and inventive milliners in our midst is truly inspirational and made the judges’ job very difficult!
Prizes were awarded for the best hat overall, Duo Wave, plus prizes for the specialist categories below:
- Pre-loved – all recycled materials, homage to nature – The Dragon Fly
- Stitchin’ time – knitted or crocheted – Lido Lil and Leo
- Totally topical – We are all Mermaids
- Monumentally magnificent – Nessie
- Just plain silly – Haunted Graveyard
- Hollywood – old style glamour – Share the Lido Love
- Over engineered – Tea Cup
- Edible fancy – for the bakers out there – Tooting Market
- The SLSC prize – Lido Crawl
- Special mention – Hokusai Wave
Take a look at some of the fabulous prizes from our supporters
Mark Richards
Mark has created a unique cold water sea swimming sculpture as a prize for the best hat competition. Mark’s creations are conceived from a lifetime’s obsession and love for the ocean and its waves. Every piece of his art is crafted to work with the contours and figures in the selected hardwood, so each is one of a kind. They are designed to evoke the freedom and excitement that being in and around open water brings to those who love it. Worth £695.
Dryrobe
The original changing robe company have donated one mid layer Jacket or one thermal trousers as a prize for the best hat competition, worth £120. Dryrobe introduced their change robes to the cold water swimming community at the 2011 Championships and it's great to welcome them back!
Swimbler waterproof bobble hats
Swimbler is a clothing brand designed for the open water swimmer for all seasons, including waterproof bobble hats with detachable pompoms.
Worth £32 each.
Four Swans Goggles gift bags
Swans have donated four gift bags with a pair of goggles, a swim hat, a kickboard and hand paddles worth £65 each.
Two bottles of Hayman's Gin
Hayman’s is the last family of original London gin distillers and is proud to put the original gin recipe in every bottle. They still make all their gin by hand, using only the finest botanicals and a traditional two-day process.
Hayman’s London Dry Gin is crisp, complex and very refreshing. A timeless classic, try it with tonic – and in any number of gin cocktails – and let its flavours unfold. Hayman's have donated 2 bottles of gin worth £28 each.
A pair of iconic Brighton water shoes plus one of their extra large micro towels
Brighton adult water shoes are designed in fabulous colours inspired by Brighton Beach. They are lightweight with a grippy rubber sole that makes walking around on pebbles a breeze. The shoes all come with a handy zipped mesh storage bag which can house your sea shoes when they are wet and dry. Brighton Water Shoes have donated a voucher for a pair of their shoes worth £19 plus an extra large micro towel worth £21.
Budgy Smuggler bucket hats
Budgy Smuggler have donated five bucket hats for the best hat competition (worth £29 each)
Two Beachbuoy towfloats and bandanas
Dive into the open water with the one and only rainbow beachbuoy. Be seen, be safe, be beachbuoy!
SwimWild bundle
1 x signed copy of Swimming Wild in Scotland, 1 x Underwater World swimming hat and 1 x mini hot water bottle in a hand knitted cover. Worth £48.45.
With over a decade of unrivalled experience organising and leading swimming holidays and events, as well as teaching and coaching in the pool and open water, SwimWild offers a range of relaxing retreats, exciting adventure holidays, community events and coaching workshops in Cairngorms National Park and around Scotland’s mainland and islands.
A bottle of Graveney Gin and a gin tasting voucher
Graveney Gin, born in Furzedown, Tooting, have donated a bottle of their award-winning signature London Dry Gin (worth £40) plus a gin tasting experience voucher for two at their bar in nearby Tooting Market, worth £80. Their gin is produced locally with only 50 bottles in every batch.
Meet the Graveney Gin team in the Bar area serving G&Ts and warming mulled cocktails, with souvenir bottles also available.
