Herts man hangs up fancy dress cap after 100 costumes for charity

Nick dress up to raise moral at work and had now raised nearly £10k

Author: Scarlett Bawden-GaulPublished 11th Jun 2021
Last updated 11th Jun 2021

A Hertfordshire man is completing 100 fancy dress work calls today after raising nearly £10,000 for charity.

While working from home in 2020 Nick Jemetta decided to dress up for a work call to bring some fun to a stressful time.

As a mental health campaigner he also used it to encourage people to talk about how they were feeling.

With some help from family and local fancy dress stores Nick hits his 100th and final costume today.

He told Greatest Hits Radio about the journey:

"I did it to help colleagues struggling with zoom fatigue but also to show people talking about mental health doesn't have to be serious.

"I live with anxiety and low level depression and at times in my life things have been really difficult but I started to speak out a few years ago.

"Ever since then I've been heavily involved in the mental health space and fancy dress has become a vehicle to share my experience more widely but it creates a relaxing environment to have a conversation.

"I am surprised how well it has gone. Every day I rock up to the calls in fancy dress there is an anticipation."

Along the way he realised he could raise money for charity, and the reaction from others has been overwhelming:

"After the reaction of the first costume I realised I could make this something bigger, so I decided to fundraise for 6 charities close to my heart.

"My initial target was £1,500 but I passed that, and my final target is now £10,000 including gift aid which I am hopefully going to hit.

"The support from everyone means so much, hopefully I will be hitting my target today as the final costume is revealed but I'd also lover people to join in.

"If you have a work call today dress up, fundraise yourself, check in on someone anything makes a difference."

Nick said that dressing up as one of Greatest Hits Radio's own Pat Sharp has been a highlight of the 99 costumes so far, but wouldn't give any hints as to what todays final look is.

For more information on the charities Nick is supporting, and to donate, head to his justgiving page.

Hear all the latest news from the North East of Scotland on Northsound 1. Listen on FM, via our Rayo app, DAB, or smart speaker.

If you want more uplifting news stories like this one, just ask your Alexa device to "Open Happy News"