Fancy Dress Idea Raises £4,000 for Fight Against Cancer

Published on: 9 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 11 Sep, 2018

That’s a good Shaun

Most people only wear fancy dress once or twice a year but Nikki Taylor-Hopper (42) from Guildford decided to go a step further and take “casual Friday” to a whole new level. She challenged herself to make and wear a costume every Friday for a whole year to raise much needed funds for the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK.

We all recognise Charlie

Nikki enlisted the help of Superman, Shaun the Sheep and Charlie Chaplin to raise more than £4,000. Other costumes of included a mermaid, a smurf, The Cat in The Hat, one of the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles and even a Transformer. Even going on holiday abroad didn’t stop Nikki and she even took her fancy dress to Spain – much to the amusement of the airport security guards.

She decided to raise money and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer UK after losing relatives and friends to the disease. More than 530 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer across Surrey and Sussex every year and less than seven per cent of people with the disease will survive beyond five years.

Nikki said: “I wanted to do something that really raised awareness of pancreatic cancer because it’s a terrible disease which has affected so many people but doesn’t often get spoken about so people think it’s rare.

“I was so surprised by how people reacted to the costumes. So many people got on board and even joined in themselves and I got so much support on social media. But the biggest thing that struck me was that so many people came up to me because they had lost someone to pancreatic cancer. I never realised so many people were affected by this type of cancer. I’m so thankful for everyone who donated and supported me along the way.”

Nikki the Smurf

“I’ve always enjoyed making things and being creative so fancy dress seemed like a great challenge. I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to think of 52 different costumes and have the time to put them all together.

Luckily I had some help from friends along the way.We did have to plan the costumes six weeks in advance because sometimes it takes a lot of time to get everything ready. I tried to make the costumes fit what was going on at the time so when it was St Patrick’s Day I dressed as a leprechaun and when it was the Queen’s birthday I dressed up as the Queen.

…and then a Transformer

“One of my favourite costumes was Charlie Chaplin. We got the idea after having a Wagamama’s takeaway and discovering that the bowl would make a great hat and we just went with it. For the finale we made a Transformer costume which turned into a truck in the Pancreatic Cancer UK colours.”

To mark the end of the year of fancy dress, Nikki and her friends held an event to auction the costumes an at her local pub, The Queen Victoria in Shalford.

Mary Whitehouse or Margaret Thatcher?

Laura Sutton, Community Fundraiser at Pancreatic Cancer UK said: “We are so delighted that Nikki is supporting up and so impressed with her incredible fancy dress costumes. It’s been so wonderful to see the pictures throughout the year.

“The funds raised will help us to take on this tough disease, which around 9,900 people are diagnosed with every year in the UK. The funds raised by Nikki will help us offer vital support to patients and families, invest in crucial research to help us see the breakthroughs we urgently need, and be a voice for everyone affected by the disease.”