Move over Victoria: local fashion show raises over £1,000 for charity

Carrol Higson, who runs All Season with Carrol

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A sold-out Victoria’s Secret-style fashion show at Middleton Shopping Centre on Friday 2 February has raised over £1,000 for charity.

Approximately 75 people attended the event showcasing a range of lingerie and other products from All Season with Carrol, which opened on the top floor of the shopping centre in late 2017.

In total, £1,021.50 was raised for ward 84 of Manchester Children’s Hospital, which treats children suffering with cancer.

Customers of the shop proudly strutted their stuff in the empty unit next to All Season with Carrol as they modelled a whole range of striking stockings and suspenders, glamourous negligees and even donned their own angel wings. All the models were customers from the shop and the fashion show catwalk became 'gender free' with models ranging from aged 15-56.

Carrol Higson, a qualified bra fitter who runs the store, said: “I decided to host a fashion show to showcase the lingerie and my other shop products. With it being a bra shop, I looked around for a local cancer charity for the proceeds to go towards. One of my customers has a six-year-old child who has been receiving care from ward 84 for over three years, then it snowballed from there.

“After spreading the word, I approached local businesses for support and received many donations including 65 raffle prizes, plus props and drinks. All help was very much appreciated.”

Businesses involved with the show included: McDonald's, O2, Specsavers, Daniel Christian, Xercise 4 Less, Stylistic, WHSmith, Wilkinsons, Heaven Hairdressing, Fabulocks Salon, Iceland, Argos, Lean and Green, Key Cutting Shop, Jon's Pandora at All Season with Carrol, The Britannia Pub, Pour Moi Underwear at All Season with Carrol, Studds, Simon One, Sports Direct, Subway, Harvey's Jewellers, Angela's Swarovski at All Season with Carrol, Make Do & Mend, Hiz Barbers, Costa Coffee, Royce Underwear, Applebys Butchers, Middleton Cafe, Heron Foods, Central Sunbeds, Substation, Butchers wrap ups (ground floor), Phone accessories stall, Key Cutting Shop, Uniform Shop, Tesco, CEX, Munchies Cafe, British Heart Foundation, Revive Car wash, Cafe Zhino and The Lighthouse Project.

The catwalk ended with the time warp being played whilst models and attendees joined in to take part in the dancing. This was followed by the raffle prizes being picked out and announced. As there were so many, the centre closed before all could be announced, and the final prizes were chosen the following day and a list of the final winning tickets posted online and instore.

Daughter Sammy Booth said: "I am so proud of my mum for hosting a great event for the community as I've not heard of anything else similar being held by a local business. It was such a success bringing everybody together and a fantastic amount of money was raised with the help of all the models, volunteers, ticket purchasers, local businesses and the general public. It was a great event to be a part of and I can't wait for the next one."

All tickets for the event were sold within a week, with a further 100 ticket enquiries received. As a result, Carrol is planning to host a bigger and better fashion show in September.

She added: “It was a very successful community event: it was so much fun whilst raising money for a great cause. I plan to host another in September which will be bigger and better with a 'gender free' audience too."