Widow 'heartbroken' after donating wedding dress to Oxfam by mistake
A widow is pleading for help after accidentally giving her wedding dress to charity.
Josie Smith, 60, took a bag to an Oxfam clothing bank at a supermarket in Rhyl, north Wales.
She later discovered that she'd dropped off a bag containing her wedding dress instead of one with old pillows in it.
When she alerted Oxfam she was told it had been collected and could now be anywhere in the UK.
The dress is of sentimental value to Josie after her husband Leon Smith developed brain cancer and died four years ago, aged 56.
Josie said: "I'd been decluttering in January after New Year. I had two bags which were very similar."
She set one bag to one side and took the other, which she thought contained pillows and other items to the clothing bank.
A few weeks ago, she decided to examine the remaining bag - only to discover it was the one with the pillows and that she had given away her wedding dress by mistake.
"It is devastating to lose it", she added.
Josie rushed back to the supermarket and rang the Oxfam number on the side of the skip, but the charity said the bank had been emptied and its contents could be anywhere.
Josie said: "The dress could have been recycled or it might have been sold on. I don't have any way to find out where it is."
Josie had bought her 'Josephine-type' wedding dress online and had alterations made including a halter neck with a thick ribbon around her neck and a corset-style back.
Her daughter, Sandra Sutton, also appealed for help on social media.
She said: "I’m pleading for the help of social media and asking everyone if they could please share this post."My amazing mum donated a zip bag to the clothing bank at Sainsburys in Rhyl."A few weeks ago she thought that the bag contained pillows but she had accidentally pulled the wrong bag from under her bed and had taken the one containing her wedding dress."My mum's contacted Oxfam who have told her it could be anywhere in the UK and that they couldn’t help further."The dress is of huge sentimental value. Sadly we lost my stepdad from brain cancer a few years ago and this is one of the few things she’s got left."Understandably she is heartbroken. Please please let the power of social media reunite the dress with my mum."Lorna Fallon, Oxfam's director of retail, said: "We'll work with our clothes bank collectors to do our best to track it down."