A MOTHER of five walked through Huntingdon High Street dressed in a wedding gown and raised £230 for charity. Deanne Potter, 34, from Headlands in Huntingdon took part in National Wedding Dress Day to raise money for The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

A MOTHER of five walked through Huntingdon High Street dressed in a wedding gown and raised £230 for charity.

Deanne Potter, 34, from Headlands in Huntingdon took part in National Wedding Dress Day to raise money for The Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA) after her daughter Mia was born with a cleft palate.

Mia, who is now three years old, has had two operations at Addenbrooke's Hospital and she may need another one in the future.

Ms Potter, who is a full-time mum, said: "CLAPA have been so good to me and Mia, supporting us through every operation offering me advice and information and they will continue to support Mia until she is 25 years old. I would have been lost without them and I wanted to give something back."

Ms Potter who raised £150 for CLAPA in 2004 after competing in a charity fancy dress fun run in Haverhill, wore her 10-year-old wedding dress was joined by her best friend Sharon Mason for her walk through Huntingdon.

Ms Potter said: "We both had some really funny looks and some people were coming up to us and congratulating us, thinking we had just been married. It was strange. But the best thing about the whole day was being able to fit into my dress after all these years."

INFORMATION: According to the Cleft Palate Association website one in every 600 children in the UK are born with a cleft lip or palate.

CLAPA has a network of local branches and volunteer parent contacts who have personal experience, whether having a child born with a cleft or having a cleft themselves. To find out more visit www.clapa.com