Chesterfield bridal shop donates £20,000 worth of dresses to charity

Emma Swain, of Nora Eve Bridal Boutique on West Bars, took 17 dresses round to the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline (NHBCH) warehouse in Chesterfield and donated them to the charity.

The dresses will now be sold, at a discounted price, by charity and will feature in a bridal show in February to raise awareness of the disease faced by the people it supports.

Emma said: “I think this charity is really inspirational, so we always like to support it.

“This year we decided to donate these 17 dresses, some of which have a price tag of £2,000.

“We wanted to clear our stock and make room for new designers. There are some top-of-the-range designers like Pronovias from Barcelona are included in the ones that we have given to charity, which will now be available at a bargain price.

“In total the dresses donated are worth about £20,000 based on what they normally sell for.

“Hopefully people will buy them and it will raise money for the charity, but the bridal event itself will also raise awareness of how the charity supports people.”

The NHBCH aims to make people aware of a specific gene that can give people breast cancer so that they know that they can go for screenings provided by the NHS that could save lives.

It also supports people who have the gene and advises them on treatments like masectomies that can prevent them from getting the cancer.

Emma was inspired to help promote the cause after her close friend’s sister, Louise, died aged 36 from hereditary breast cancer caused by the gene she did not know she had.

NHBCH now has a caravan named in Louise’s honour that it uses to travel around spreading the word about the support it offers.

Wendy Watson MBE, founder of the charity, said: “This is a huge donation that Nora Eve have made. I am absolutely overwhelmed by their generosity.

“It is incredible. They wanted to help the charity and raise awareness and that is exactly what they will have done.”