Pop-up prom clothing sale in Leamington to help people facing financial hardship hailed a success

A pop-up prom clothing sale to help people facing financial hardship in the Warwick district has been hailed a success.

Debbie Potter, who is from Warwick, organised the event which took place earlier in May.

Debbie said: “I run a community gifting group on Facebook and it helps lots of people with the cost of living crisis, if the group can’t help then we sign post to places that can, one of them being the Brunswick Hub and one of my admins also works there.

"But what made me think about doing it is that it’s prom season and for all the people that attend it’s all about what they wear – for girls it’s all about the dress and the lads the suit.

"I remember a girl going to prom in a relatives wedding dress as the family couldn’t afford a dress for her and with how expensive every is I wanted to help do something.”

From this Debbie worked with the Brunswick Hub and the Facebook group to hold the event at the community centre in Leamington.

She said: “It was advertised on social media for people who were facing financial hardship that they could come along and get an outfit at no cost, the child had to come with an adult to try things on.

“We had 16 families that came and got items, mostly females and they each got a stunning dress and we were also able to give accessories that matched, shoes, handbag, even jewellery.

“Towards the end of the event a member of staff came from the local SEND school and we donated lots of different dresses, suits and shoes to help with the whole sixth form prom.”

After the success of the event, Debbie is hoping the event can return every year.

She said: “We are hoping to make it annual, we were so lucky to have so many beautiful things donated to us, a couple of bridal shops gave us lots of dresses and without all the wonderful donations we couldn’t of done it.”