Portsmouth charity sees World Book Day costumes snapped up

Liz Jones and Claire Traviss, who run the Uniform Share Store at HIVE Portsmouth, have handed out hundreds of costumes

A charity which had collected hundreds of World Book Day outfits to give to families under financial pressure has seen them snapped up in a few hours.

HIVE Portsmouth was initially swamped with costumes after posting an appeal on social media.

After opening up its share store, at the city's library on Tuesday, it said people were "queueing out the door".

The charity has appealed for further donations and urged people to re-donate their literary-themed outfits.

The charity said it had seen Mary Poppins costumes, The Cat in the Hat and everything in-between donated

Helen Lewis, from the charity, said: "People have been incredibly generous in donating new and preloved outfits.

"People were queueing out the door, we have been quickly handing them out - but we only have a handful left.

"This is the first year we've done the World Book Day outfits - it's been so nice to be able to help so many local families."

Posting on its Facebook page, the charity said: "If you're able to raid the fancy dress box for any items that are no longer used, we'd be hugely grateful."

The charity has a collection point at the library and also Fratton Park Tesco for costumes and school uniform.

What a difference a day makes - by Tuesday morning all the outfits had been snapped up