Swindon now has our own fairy godmother after a Pinehurst mum created a group for disadvantaged teenagers to borrow donated outfits to attend their end of year prom.

Suzi Gatward started Prom SOS for people to donate their old prom dresses, suits, shoes and accessories, to be loaned out to teenagers who can’t afford to buy their own.

“For kids these days a school prom is almost like a rite of passage,” said Suzi.

“In a lot of schools that don’t have a sixth form, when you reach the end of year 11 you don’t necessarily stay at the school you’re at or with the friends you’ve got. You all go your separate ways, you go to college, apprenticeships, you might go to work, you might move away.

“But there are such massive costs involved with prom and there are so many people who can’t afford it,” she added.

The idea for the group came after Suzi’s own daughter was leant a dress to go to her school prom. Suzi then came across a Facebook post where a prom dress was being given away so that someone else could wear it.

“I thought wouldn’t it be nice, rather than it going from one person’s cupboard to another person’s cupboard just to sit in there and not do anything, if we could lend that to somebody repeatedly,” said Suzi.

“I put the idea out there on Facebook on a Friday night and by the end of the Sunday I had something like 27 odd dresses,” she added.

Prom SOS currently has 127 dresses and 30 suits for teenagers to borrow.

“I am truly in awe and overwhelmed by the amount of support I’ve received," said Suzi. “I’m so proud of Swindon’s community for getting behind it. It is truly amazing.”

The exam invigilator said people can spend anywhere between £100 to £2,000 on the whole prom experience.

Suzi added: “And the dresses are a massive part of that. Someone in Swindon spent £1,500 on their school prom.

“There’s also that pressure, particularly among girls, that I’ve got to go out and get an amazing dress, in order to keep up with my friends,” she added.

“What I want prom SOS to do is to take some of that pressure off. I don’t think any 16-year-old should have to deal with that kind of pressure, you get enough of it as an adult, and they will have just gone through their GCSEs,” said Suzi.

Outfits will be loaned for free to teenagers who have been referred to the group by their schools. “They are in the best position to know who needs the help the most,” said Suzi.

They will be sent a form asking for more details including dress size and prom date along with an invitation to a pop-up shop at Pinetree Community Centre. Here the teenagers will be able to choose a dress or suit along with shoes and accessories to match if available.

“We really do have some incredible dresses,” Suzi said. “We’ve got so many different styles – long, sleek dresses and some big poofy dresses. We’ve got some shorter dresses.

“We’ve got size 4 to a size 22, so I’m hoping there will be something for everyone.

“All we ask is that they look after their dress and bring it back in one piece.”

Donation points for outfits include at Pinetrees Community Centre, The Haven Day Centre, Butterfly Balloons in Gorse Hill, Julie’s Tailoring in Cheney Manor and Shaw Chiropractic Clinic at Shaw village centre.

The group also have a gofundme page where anyone can donate towards the cost of dry cleaning and storing the outfits at www.gofundme.com/f/project-prom-sos.

Suzi added: “We’re never going to be able to do the whole prom experience for teenagers but we’ll do the best we can.”