AN AMAZING collection of more than 100 handmade goat coats goes on display for one day only next month, writes Amy?Dennis.

All are welcome to view Marion White’s collection of ‘coats for goats’ that she has made, when they go on display at Highampton Village Hall, Beaworthy, from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, October 6.

It is free entry, and parking will be available, with donations in aid of the mental health charity MIND, and a couple of Marion’s goats will attend, dressed to impress!

At the exhibition, visitors will also be able to hear Marion’s story. Marion wanted to support this charity, after losing her beloved son Darren to a mental health crisis in 1995.

The story of her ‘goat coat’ making started seven years ago, after she lost her favourite goat, Jacob. A ‘mascot’ of the Ruby Country Market, Jacob used to attend in his ‘Coat of Many Colours’, which Marion had made with another lady, and Marion would also wear her colourful coat alongside Jacob.

Marion said: “When Jacob passed on I did not want any other goat to wear his coat as it was. I thought I would make it look different by sewing a little teddy bear on to it. From this came the idea of making more coats for goats. This was the start of my great adventure!

“Recently, with very positive thinking, I decided to hold an exhibition displaying all the goat coats and the accompanying costumes that I wore, to raise money for a charity.

“In 1995 my son Darren ended his own life. It was a terrible time for me and my late husband, George. So I have come up with the idea that the goat coats could be put to good use in raising funds for the charity MIND, with the money to be used in the local area based at Taunton in Somerset.

“My hopes are that although Darren never had a chance to be helped in a young person’s unit, perhaps other young people might have that chance. I hope to achieve a large amount of money for MIND.”

Marion said Darren was a ‘very charming, intelligent, young man’, but he admitted himself to hospital when he had a breakdown.

Although an awful experience for any family, Marion sees her goat coat-making hobby as therapeutic, and says it has got her ‘through some dark times’.

She added: “There’s light at the end of the tunnel. If you can do something positive like what I’ve done, so be it. If I’m feeling low, if it’s anniversary times, I pick up my needle, if I’m in a dark place, I pick up my needle.

“The exhibition is a one-off. I don’t sell these coats, don’t make them for people, it’s solely to try and raise money for MIND.

“When Darren had his breakdown he admitted himself into an old psychiatric hospital, there were no modern facilities for youngsters that there are now. If making these coats, if something positive can come out of that, then it’s not done in vain.”

Marion currently has 11 goats — she has rescued in the region of 140 over the years, the most recent addition being pygmy goat Sally-Ann, which she rehomed around six weeks ago.

Marion, a former auxiliary nurse, rescued her first goat when she lived in Crediton with her late husband, where they had ¼ of an acre, adding: “I decided it was going to be my vocation in life, to rescue as many goats as I could. My poor husband only tolerated it. I went out one day to get him a pasty, forgot the pasty and brought home a goat!”

Marion’s goat coat-making is self-taught, and among the impressive collection are an anniversary golden coat, inspired by a golden ball Marion saw at the recycling centre, a wedding coat made from a sideboard runner and cushion from the 50p box at a charity shop, a coat depicting a ‘rabbits’ picnic’, and another made from 1,000 buttons.

Marion even suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome, which doesn’t seem to hold her back — she admits to working on coats for hours at a time.

Some, such as a Christmas coat with teddies lined up in a sleigh, even have battery-operated lights. However, Marion stressed any coats that are too heavy are not put on the goats.

While one of her other pygmy goats, Eddie, didn’t seem to like dressing up in the coats as much as Sally-Ann, Marion said Eddie has since become jealous, and when Sally-Ann has her ‘fittings’, Eddie will try to take the coat off her!

Marion added of Sally-Ann: “She’s come out of her shell. When I put the coat on her she loves all the attention! It’s a new lease of life for her — she wasn’t wanted because she lost her goat kid this year.”

Sally-Ann has come out of her shell so much that Marion will be bringing her to the exhibition to model some of the coats, and said this means the exhibition will be ‘absolutely lovely for children’, where they will be able to pet the goats, and said she can’t wait to see their faces light up.

A lot of the characters on the coats can be recognised from children’s TV, and there are different designs inspired by locations around the globe.

Marion herself explained she came from an aristocratic family in Poland, and said: “Apparently my great-grandmother studied with Marie Curie in Paris,” which has inspired her to raise more than £1,000 for that charity too in the past.

Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/goatsincoats