Huge interest in wedding dress after it goes viral around the globe

A vintage wedding dress left to a charity shop with a heart-rending note has sold for £3,000.

St Gemma's Hospice in England launched a worldwide search to find the pensioner who donated the dress alongside a note wishing the new wearer “a happy life with her loved one, 56 years like I did.”

It created a media storm after the charity shared pictures of the dress and the note on social media websites with an appeal to find the donor to thank him personally.

The note read: "I wish any lady who takes this dress to have a life with her loved one 56 years like I did, happy years. I was a lucky man to marry a lady like mine."

Eventually the charity tracked down the pensioner but not before the story touched hearts around the world, leading to enquiries to buy the dress from Australia, Hong Kong and the US as well as all over the UK.

The hospice subsequently put the dress up for auction on eBay where it has now sold for £2,910.

The charity's head of communications Nicola Woodgate said: “It's been an amazing couple of weeks for St Gemma's Hospice.

“The publicity we've received is phenomenal and the money raised will be put to very good use providing expert care for terminally ill patients and their families.”