A woman has filled an entire room in her house with wedding dresses in order to transform them into burial gowns for stillborn babies.

Beverley Whitten, 47, suffered a miscarriage two decades ago and believes that by making the gowns she can help parents cope with the loss of their child.

She has been given hundreds of wedding dresses as donations since setting up her project, Heavenly Gowns UK, in February.

So many donations have come in that her spare room has been taken over by wedding dresses.

So far Mrs Whitten has given the gowns and other items like cribs and caps to St Helier Hospital, Epsom Hospital and St Geroge's Hospital.

Mrs Whitten said: "I suffered a miscarriage over 20 years ago and I would say that contributed to me setting up Heavenly Gowns.

"I did not know the sex of my baby, but these days many young mums name their child and see their child via a scan and become attached to it before it is born.

"And for someone to go from being pregnant to not being pregnant suddenly is something truly horrible.

"It can have a devastating effect on a woman's state of mind. It is a really painful experience.

"And with what we do we won't be able to ease the pain of losing a baby, but we can give them comfort."

"I wanted the wedding dresses to be used to create a beautiful outfit for the little things and give them a sense of dignity in death."

Mrs Whitten, of Milton Avenue, said she has moved on from the loss of her unborn baby and now has three children: Leanne, 27, Nichola, 26 and Kellie, 23.

Now focused on Heavenly Gowns, she works full-time and works with about 80 voluenteers.

Now she wants Heavenly Gowns to become a charity, but needs to bring in £5,000 in donations per year to be registered.

For more information, visit heavenlygowns.co.uk.