Free Norwich fancy dress service set up to help families

Tracey Cooper set up the Dussindale Community Fancy Dress Box service to help struggling families

A free costume lending service has been set up by a community group to help cash-strapped families of school-aged children who need outfits for events.

Tracey Cooper, from Norwich, set up Dussindale Community Fancy Dress Box after watching a news item about the cost of costumes for World Book Day.

"What a lot of pressure all of this dressing up must be putting on parents," she said.

Outfits, for a range of events, are for children aged up to 14.

"There seems to always be something they are dressing up for like Red Nose Day, Children in Need, World Book Day, Halloween, or their friend's parties," said Ms Cooper.

A Woody from Toy Story costume is one of 120 available at the free community costume service

"The cost of living crisis, meant the pressure was even more keenly felt by many families," said Ms Cooper.

"Lots of parents don't have the money to buy something, or the time or imagination to make something."

The fancy dress service allows people to borrow an outfit for a £5 deposit, which is returned when the costume comes back.

Some 120 costumes have been given to the online service for people living in the Dussindale area of Norwich.

"We were given some amazing donations, some were handmade, some were new and even had the tags still on," she said.

"The reuse model is great for saving costumes from landfill."

Costumes are kept in good repair by the team so many children can enjoy wearing them

The community service also has a "Darning Queen" to help repair and preserve the life of the costumes.

"We can't wait to see how this service grows over time," said Ms Cooper, who came up with the idea in March.

"It's so important that we don't feel pressured to spend lots of money on costumes that may only be worn for one day and then forgotten about," she added.