STAFF at a Birdwell shop helped raise the village’s spirits by wearing fancy dress for 63 days.
Carol Cherrett, Janet Hudson, Laura Watson and Mags Hague decided to wear fancy dress on Easter Tuesday in April to help put a smile on their customers’ faces during the pandemic.
Soon the idea grew, and the team at Birdwell News pledged to dress up every day during the lockdown period.
“We saw how happy it made our customers and decided to keep it going,” said owner of the shop, Carol, 51. “We used whatever we could get our hands on to wear something different every day.”
The team have dressed as Pink Ladies, pirates, fairytale characters and, Carol’s favourite, Smurfs.
“We bought costumes, made them ourselves, or just used what we already had,” added Carol. “Some of them were a bit makeshift but as long as they cheered people up it was worth it.”
Throughout their fancy dress challenge, the staff asked for donations which would be donated to the Barnsley Hospital Charity. Carol said she was ‘shocked’ to discover they had raised more than £1,500 for the charity.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “We had a little tin on the counter and people would drop loose change in - I thought we would raise about £500, not three times that.”
