Amazing technicolour ball gown leaves Kettering prostate group 'tongue-tied'

An incredible home-made ball gown astonished members of a prostate cancer support group when they realised it was made entirely of their own ties.

Members of Kettering and District Prostate Cancer Support Group had no idea what their ties were going to be used for when they responded to a request to donate them.

But jaws dropped at their annual Christmas party when they realised Kettering General Hospital’s Macmillan Urology Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Caroline Gallacher, had turned them into a multi-coloured ball gown.

Caroline, a nurse at KGH for the past 18 years, said: “I am always making my own clothes and I was browsing online when I saw some clothes made of old ties and thought I would like to have a go at that.”

Caroline’s husband Nigel donated a few ties but Caroline needed many more so she approached support group committee member Mike Doherty with a cryptic message.

Mike said: “Caroline asked me to send an email to members asking for old ties to help with ‘a clothing enterprise’ – but didn’t say how she planned to use them.

“People were amazed when she walked into our Christmas Party on December 6 wearing the ball gown – you could say we were tongue-tied.”

Kettering and District Prostate Support Group chairman Keith Mitchell said: “It was fantastic.

“We couldn’t believe what Caroline had done with our ties.

“Throughout the night our members were going up and looking at the dress to find their own ties. It was incredible and a real talking-point at the party.”

The group weren’t the only ones astonished by the success of the appeal for ties.

In November, a month after the initial email appeal, Caroline couldn’t attend the support group because she had Covid-19.

But when she returned to work she found four sacks with almost 150 ties waiting for her.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it. The response was amazing. There were just so many ties from all the ages.

"Flowery ones from the 1960s, kipper ties from the 1970s, thin ties, thick ties, just so many to choose from.

“I made a skirt and there were so many left over I decided to make a ball gown.”

The Christmas party went with a real swing and raised £130 for the 40-strong support group which meets on the first Tuesday of the month at the Midland Band Club in Hallwood Road, Kettering, at 7.30pm.

New members are always welcome.

Caroline plans to continue to wear the dress at promotional events for prostate cancer and for the prostate cancer support group.

She said: “It’s sort of a symbol for how much the prostate cancer support group means to its members.

"So many of them contributed to it and helped to make the dress something special.”

For more information from the NHS about prostate cancer, click here.

For further information about the Kettering and District Prostate Cancer Support Group click here.