BANANAMAN, Dick Turpin, Mickey Mouse - they've all walked through Rosemarie Nordberg's front door. For Rosemarie, who lives in Hazelwood Close, Leyland, has put her lifetime's hobby to good use, converting her garage into a fancy dress shop!

Her garage contains more than 400 costumes from across the centuries and is fast becoming the first port of call for anyone planning an unusual night out.

Rosemarie (pictured) says it is a dream come true. She said: "I have always been interested in dressing up and fancy dress, even as an adult, but it was only a hobby.

"It was just by chance that I met a man who wanted to sell a lot of fancy dress stuff, which I snapped up straight away.

"Unfortunately, it didn't all fit into my wardrobes so I had to plead with my husband to convert the garage."

While it was always Rosemarie's plan to start up a fancy dress business, which she has called Fancy That! she had no idea how popular it would with locals, who, judging by her order book, love nothing more than dressing up. Leyland, apparently, is full of budding Bugs Bunnies, pretend Peter Pans and make believe musketeers.

And it was Rosemarie who was to blame for a tribe of drunk female Vikings charging through Preston at the weekend - she cleaned out her entire Nordic stock to kit out the girls.

She added: "Some of the requests I get are really bizarre. What is possibly more worrying is that normally I have what they want in stock!"

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