A FULL-TIME working mum of two is "disappointed and devastated" as she has been forced to close her non-profit initiative that has been helping youngsters with free prom dresses.

Kate Lamb has been supporting Andover residents in extreme financial difficulties who would otherwise miss out on proms.

She announced on Facebook on Sunday, January 8, that she will sadly need to close the 'Andover Prom Dress' initiative with "immediate effect".

Kate, who has been running the service for the past four years, said she is no longer able to meet the huge increase in demand for prom dresses alongside her main career.

She said it was with a heavy heart she would need to close the initiative due to a “significant change in personal circumstances”.

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Kate told the Advertiser: "It is sad to see my four years of effort shutting down. It took a lot of effort to turn it around from the ground to a successful and helpful initiative.

"When I started there was only a minority of people who needed this service and I thought I could manage it. Sadly, due to the cost-of-living crisis, the demand for the service has gone through the roof. I get hundreds of requests from people. It is very difficult to weigh up the requests and decide who should get the dress.

"In addition, I was made redundant from my previous job last year. My new full-time job requires me to travel to London. I would sadly not be able to meet this huge new unforeseen increase in demand alongside my full-time career. It is far too much for one person.”

Kate said she is also unable to hand over the initiative to a full-time volunteer, should there be one, due to the complex nature of the set-up including a premises licence agreement to a named individual that would need to be applied for with the council.

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In addition, she said she will have to purchase public liability insurance from her own pocket, as well as be prepared to move premises and all of the stock on foot every 12 weeks.

However, the people who donated the prom dresses will not be let down as Kate is giving all of them to Cancer Research.

She wrote on Facebook: “Please know the kindness and generosity of our amazing dress donators will not be futile.

“I’ve met many wonderful parents, carers and young people who have been impacted personally by cancer. Therefore all of these beautiful dresses will be collected by Cancer Research where they will be distributed to their stores and sold to raise money for this amazing worthwhile charity whose fundraising and research aims to help beat cancer sooner. So our kind dress donators continue to keeping make a difference.”

Kate thanked hundreds of kind and generous dress donors.

“[They] have proven how many wonderful people there are in our town and beyond.

“I’d also like to thank Test Valley council for offering a great pop-up shop initiative and support to have made this possible as well as the Chantry Centre staff for looking after us.

“Together with all of you, it has been an absolute pleasure over the last four years, helping to make prom dreams come true for some really amazing and deserving young people and seeing their smiles and confidence boosted.”