IT started as pilot project run from a spare room. Now Dressability is preparing to mark 20 years of helping the disabled and elderly look their best.

Based in West Swindon, the organisation has adapted thousands of garments, devised accessories and invented new techniques to allow people to feel comfortable and confident in their own clothes.

It will be celebrating its birthday on April 14 with a tea party for clients, volunteers and staff. The Mayor of Swindon Maureen Penney will be a special guest and Thamesdown Ladies Choir will provide the entertainment.

Manager Sharon Tombs said: “As far as we know we are still the only charity in the UK that offers this service and we have been going 20 years. It is something to celebrate.

“It’s a wonderful achievement, it really is. To be able to help local people in the way this charity does is just amazing.”

Dressability draws clients from all over the country, many of them through word of mouth. And the dressmakers work on everything from discreet pouches to hide colostomy bags and easy fastening trousers for people who have suffered strokes, to bridesmaid dresses adapted to cope with curvature of the spine.

“We really rely on the skill of our dressmakers and volunteers. We couldn’t do it without them,” said Sharon.

“The whole ethos of Dressability is people can wear their own clothes and feel good in them.”

The charity was born in Bath but moved to Swindon six months later after winning lottery funding. In those days Velcro was the big news in fastening methods. Now the experts are fitting tiny magnets to garments.

They are always learning and there is always a problem they have never dealt with before. But they put their heads together and work out a solution. “Disability is such an individual thing,” explained Sharon.

Just this week they took delivery of a load of fabric for their latest invention – a waterproof cover that encases a wheelchair, allowing the user to shower without having to climb onto a shower stool. “It will have a massive impact with travelling,” she said.