Article in Full...Without West Mid Baby Unit my children wouldn't be hereBy Estelle MaraisFROM a stint as an Ann Summers lingerie model to the mythical Greek creature, Medusa, Debbie Dewar certainly cannot be accused of slacking when it comes to charity.The 35-year-old mother of three has gone to considerable lengths to raise money for West Middlesex Hospital's premature baby unit and children's Starlight Ward, after all three of her children received life saving care there."I started raising money 13 years ago after my first child was born," she says. "I think I realised the importance of charity work only when I had to have the use of West Mid's premature baby unit.. I ended up having all three of my children in there, and without that equipment none of my babies would be around today. So it means a lot to me."One of Debbie's children was born a precarious two months early, while the other two were both premature by one week.And she is adamant that without the help of the hospital, her 13-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and toddler,15 months, would not be alive today.She says: "Premature babies are becoming more common these days, but it seems to be an area that is often overlooked when it comes to raising money. I guess only when you've had the use of the premature baby unit, you understand it really can be the difference between life and death."One of Debbie's earliest events for charity included an Ann Summers show back in 1993, where she took part as an underwear model. Since then she has revived the Brentford Festival and raised £800 from a Halloween party in October where she premiered as Medusa.She says: "Modelling for Ann Summers in my undies was fantastic. It's quite a daring thing to do but at the time I didn't really think about it, I just felt I was doing something really good to raise money for a group. I've always enjoyed dressing up or in that case dressing down so it was just a lot of fun. Any excuse for a party and I'm there, especially if it's in fancy dress."Debbie's passion for dressing up and costume making was inspired by her grandmother, who taught her to sew by the time she was 11-years-old.And party fever interested her so much that she even went to college while pregnant to study flower arranging and creating animals and patterns from balloons."I went to college for a whole year to learn how to mess with balloons," she says. "But sewing has always been my passion. I was into fancy dress costumes, wigs, flowers and things like that from a young age, and I used to make the outfits for all of my school's productions. But the best costume I ever made was a great big daisy duck for a fancy dress party. It was huge! It had a great big head with a pink bow, a massive bum, and furry feet. I've made so many costumes now that I have about 50 at home with no one to wear them. Before giving birth to my third child I was thinking of opening up a costume shop here in Brentford."However, complications after the birth of her daughter forced Debbie to put all plans for her shop on hold.Instead she has been devoting her skills to hosting events to raise money for West Mid, including a Christmas Eve party a few years ago at the Princess Royal, the rebirth of the Brentford Festival in the summer this year, and the Halloween fancy dress party, which raised £800."The turnout for the Halloween party was brilliant. It was very hectic to plan because my 15-month-old daughter was in hospital with pneumonia and I was dividing my time between that and dealing with all the arrangements for the event. But it paid off and it was wonderful."She adds: "Even the Brentford Festival was a fantastic day out. It's a shame we couldn't have done it years ago. I was born and bred in Brentford and I always wanted to get involved in something like this but found it difficult to take part in the older festival that used to be around, so I started it up on my own."Debbie plans to turn the festival into an annual event which she hopes will become bigger and better every year."Next year I want to get a parade up and running. When I was younger all the schools took part in the old Brentford Carnival, and I want that kind of involvement again. Hopefully next year there will be more community involvement because all Brentford people should be part of something like this."At the festival Debbie raised £50 for the hospital with a face painting stall where she charged £1 per face."I painted 50 faces that day and it was such hard work. It was so hot on the day that the make-up was melting, and some of the characters were very complicated, like Spiderman, which was a popular one. It took a lot of time because it's a very intricate design."She says: "At the moment I'm taking a break, but I'm sure something else to work on will come up soon. I love Brentford it's a bit like the Bermuda triangle, you just never really manage to leave once you're living here and I guess the next big thing to concentrate on will be the 2006 Brentford festival.""In the long term though," she adds, "I will open my own costume shop. I'm always on the scout for small premises in the area. I won't be complete in my life until I've done that and my nan would have loved it."Anyone interested in taking part in the 2006 Brentford Festival should email Debbie Dewar at debbiedewar1970@hotmail.com
Simon Anderson ● 7165d