When Crondall resident Izzy Harrison-Butler stumbled across her wedding gown during a house move, she knew exactly what to do with it.

Many women see their wedding dress years later and hold on to it. The outfit often goes into storage or remains hidden in wardrobes, an unseen memento of the best day of their life.

But not Izzy. After giving it a good look for the first time in two decades, she thought she would use it for something good and trash it for charity.

She said: "I hadn't looked at it for 16 years.

“I just said, you know what, I'm going to trash my dress and let's do it for Phyllis Tuckwell.”

What followed was a ten-hour fundraising challenge in honour of a close friend receiving palliative care from Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care following a bowel cancer diagnosis.

The 43-year-old threw herself quite literally into the cause, riding scooters, mucking out stables, driving a tractor and eventually plunging into a pond, all while wearing her wedding gown.

She said: "I spent the day with a group of close friends and thought, how can we trash this dress? Playing games, riding scooters, having baked beans thrown at me it was quite a full-on ten hours. I was absolutely shattered."

The motivation to do the fundraiser ran deep, further than friendship alone. Mrs Harrison-Butler lost her own mother to cancer at just 16, and says this was her way of doing something when there is little else she can do.

She said: “I am very much a fixer but something like this you can't fix.

“This is my way of supporting my friend at this time. If we can promote what these hospices do, then we've done something.”

She continued: “I can't emphasise enough how amazing it is not just with the pain relief but the emotional support as well. Overall outstanding.”

Phyllis Tuckwell provides palliative and end-of-life care for patients and families living with an advanced or terminal illness across West Surrey and North-East Hampshire.

The NHS and Government cover only around 25 per cent of its costs, meaning the hospice must raise more than £30,000 every single day to keep all its services free of charge. It recently opened a new state-of-the-art facility.

Sam West, community fundraiser at Phyllis Tuckwell, said: "It's great to see the inventive ways our supporters raise money. Thanks to people like Izzy, we can keep providing vital hospice care in the community."

Local businesses rallied behind the effort too. Water purification company Pure Hydration and a local farrier both made financial contributions, while a vineyard donated a bottle of pink fizz raised in a toast as Mrs Harrison-Butler took her final plunge into the pond.

The fundraiser launched on May 15 with a target of £1,400 and has already raised more than £1,270 from 33 donors - nearly 91 per cent of its goal.

To donate and help Izzy reach her target head to gofundme.com/f/trash-the-dress-for-phyllis-tuckwell