A BANANA suit, pantomime horse and a teenage mutant ninja turtle were just some of the costumes donated to Maldon's Salvation Army shop last week.

Receiving the gift of more than 100 fancy dress outfits from an anonymous donor, the store based on the High Street will sell of the bounty in a four-day panto bonanza.

Manager Kevin Jennings said: "My dad Vic volunteers in our collections service and received a call last week saying there was a collection for him to pick up near Southminster.

"He does this every week so it didn't seem out of the ordinary but when he picked up the clothes they turned out to be these fantastic costumes.

"There's just boxes and boxes, full of wigs, hats, homemade outfits and really high-end professional costumes.

"I've worked in the store since it opened in May 2010 and we've never received a donation like this – it was fantastic.

"Everyone was so excited and we just kept finding more great costumes like gorillas, strawberries and the White Rabbit."

With a background in amateur dramatics, the collection was especially exciting for 32-year-old Maldon man Mr Jennings.

"I'm well-known in the area and have been in a number of productions so I loved all the costumes.

"A lot of them are from London costume-makers and would have cost a lot of money to buy.

"They came from a family who run a costume business and had a fire in their loft.

"A lot of their collection was destroyed and this is the remaining stock.

"We're selling it all off from £5 to £50 and people have come into the shop asking to buy it before we're putting it out.

"We advise people not to wait until the last day of the sale as there won't be much left.

"A DJ from Saint FM has painted some big pantomime mirrors onto the shop windows so we've really got into the spirt of things.

"I especially like the gorilla but there's so many to choose from there'll be something for everyone."

The sale begins today and will run until Sunday. The shop is open from 9am to 5pm.