AN ‘ALADDIN’S Cave’ stuffed with Tudor togs and togas needs TLC from new volunteers.

Dress-up divas have frequented Oxfordshire Drama Wardrobe for five decades, but the Steventon costume hire company needs more staff to keep going.

Anne Byard, 62, has been volunteering at the wardrobe for more than a year.

The Long Wittenham resident said: “We have had people get married in our costumes, we have had Tudor banquets. It’s for anyone that wants something a bit different.

“We had one of our long-standing volunteers who left at the age of 90 last year and another who has been with us for eight years wants to retire.

“We would really like another three or four new volunteers.”

The wardrobe, which provides more than 5,000 costumes for theatrical groups, schools and individuals, will be forced to slash its opening hours if no one fills the positions.

Work would involve talking to customers and potentially sewing or repairing costumes.

She added: “You get people walking in and saying ‘we are having a party and I want to dress up’. It’s fun because you can dress people for parts, it’s always different.”

Our Lady’s Abingdon was among the schools to utilise the rich variety of costumes on offer last year, ordering 40 costumes for its performance of A Christmas Carol.

Elizabeth Lawson, head of drama at the school in Radley Road, Abingdon, described the wardrobe as an “Aladdin’s Cave”.

She said: “They lent us a lot of costumes, they just have something for every era and style of play.

“We just gave them the measurements and they just sorted everything out for us. The costumes raised the standard of the school’s play.

“It’s like a bunker in an industrial estate, but it’s crammed with stuff inside, all organised. It’s brilliant.

“I thought we would have to pick all 40 costumes, but it was much easier than that. They said ‘we will sort it’. They even understood the characters.”

The much-loved business’s bid for volunteers is the next hurdle in its long-running plight to survive.

Staff at the wardrobe have battled debt and downsizing in recent years, being forced to sell off stock.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at the wardrobe, which is based in Hanney Road, can email odwc1938@gmail.com