A KILWINNING woman and her family have been left devastated after the wedding dress they hoped their mum would be buried in disappeared from a cleaners.
Linda Galloway, 61, sadly died last week after suffering from bowel cancer while trying to get her dream gown back from Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland.
She had given the dress to the Cumbernauld shop in 2019 but her family claimed it was never returned.
The business was then bought by new owners in 2020 and is now based in Motherwell, but bosses have claimed they never got the dress from the original owner.
Her family, including daughter Yvonne Benson, had hoped Linda would make her final journey in her wedding dress so she could be “beautiful” after her cruel and lengthy cancer battle “took that away from her”.
However, they fear they may now never see the stunning Stella York dress ever again.
They are hoping the original owner will come forward and speak to them about the dress.
Linda’s niece Stephanie Burke told our sister paper the Glasgow Times that finding the dress before the funeral would give the family “closure”.
She said: “We are just so disappointed, angry, and really hurt to be honest.
“The family wanted Linda to make her final journey in the dress because she felt beautiful in it, the cancer took that away from her towards the end.
“We put out an appeal to see if anyone recognises it, maybe it has been lost or sold by accident and someone could return it.
“We are worried we might not get it back, but we don’t want to give up, we will keep fighting.
“Someone knows what happened to the dress, we just want it back to give the family closure on what’s happened.”
Linda got married to her partner of more than 40 years, Robert Galloway, at the Savoy Park Hotel in Ayr in June 2019.
She had sent the dress away to be cleaned around November 2019 and was promised it would be returned in January 2020.
Lockdown then hit and shortly after that Linda became ill, and the family’s priority was on her recovery.
She was then diagnosed with terminal cancer in January last year, and she sadly passed away on December 30.
Now the family want to reunite Linda for the final time with her stunning designer frock which is a size 12 to 14 with original alterations.
Charities and well-wishers have since offered to buy a new dress for Linda to be laid to rest in but her loved ones are determined to track down her original designer Stella York garment.
The new owners of Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland have also offered their apologies and generously offered to make a donation to a charity of the family’s choice.
Her daughter Yvonne, 41, said: “People have been so lovely trying to help us, but we don’t want a replacement. I want my mum’s dress.
“The shop where she bought it even offered to get us a similar one, but it is just not the same.
“I don’t want to make a GoFundMe or anything, it isn’t about the money, it is about giving my mum back what was hers.
“She felt and looked so beautiful in it, so it means everything to us.
“She gave it over to the cleaners and expected to get it back, I hope we still might.”
Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland said: “It is with regret that the wedding dress sent to Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland in 2019 is not on our premises.
“We acquired the company Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland in November 2020 and sadly the dress was sent to the previous owners in 2019 at their shop.
“The family reached out to us for help in locating this item on January 3, 2023 and we are extremely sorry that we have never received this dress.
“The dress was cleaned a year prior to our acquisition of the business.
“Our team have informed the previous owners of this situation and have shared the family’s details with them.
“Sadly, we cannot share the previous owner’s personal email due to GDPR regulations.
“Our customer services team at Wedding Dress Cleaning Scotland has offered the family a dress of the same style by the same designer, but we do appreciate this does not hold the same sentiment as the original.
“We will also make a donation to a charity of the family’s choice.”
