Gowns of every shape and size including dinosaurs, dwarfs, pumpkins, a hock of ham and even a pantomime cow all came up for sale in Hethersett Church Hall.

Over 500 colourful hand made items belonging to Hethersett Players and Hethersett Pantomime Group were going for a song as part of a re-cycling programme on Sunday.

'We have accumulated all the costumes over many years and got to the point where we just couldn't move. We just had so much stuff. We have dinosaur costumes that were used 13 years ago. So we decided to raise a little bit of money for future costumes and at the same time re-cycle the costumes by helping other drama and pantomime groups,' said Sarah Wright from the panto group.

By midday the sale was in full swing with a massive pumpkin being one of the first items to find a new home. Many items were sold at almost giveaway prices and a number of groups from throughout Norfolk attended.

One of the first on the scene was Nigel Alexander from the Dragons Stage School from Caister and Great Yarmouth. He left clutching a host of costumes which will be used to help with drama, dance and other productions.

The Hethersett group rarely uses the costumes for more than one production as Matt Bell, head of wardrobe explained: 'We make a lot of our costumes and we've acquired a lot over the years and our storage is quite limited. We don't really like to use the same customers again but we're reluctant to just throw them away because it seems a waste and we put a lot of hard work into them.'

The sale featured costumes going back to the 1970s. Now pantomime group members will be starting all over again making costumes for the 2012 pantomime Dick Whittington which will be held in Hethersett Village Hall from January 14th to 21st.