'My charity shop challenge feels joyous this time'

20 April 2025

Katy Lewis

BBC News, Hertfordshire

Caroline Jones Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes and is wearing bright red lipstick. Her arms are raised and she is touching her ears. The top of a dark grey jacket is visible, as is a blue scarf and blue and white striped blouse. She is also wearing a yellow beaded bracelet, yellow hoop earrings and a pink watch.

A woman wearing charity clothes for a year, a decade after she took on the challenge for the first time, is hoping the changes she has experienced give hope to others who are in a "difficult place".

Caroline Jones, 56, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, began Knickers Model's Own in 2015 to raise money for Cancer Research UK while in the early stages of grieving for her mother, Mary Benson.

She wore clothes from the charity's shops for 365 days and posted her outfits on social media.

This year, she is posting her 2025 pictures alongside the corresponding 2015 images, and she said her grief "feels lighter" and she was generally "more confident".

Ms Jones is posing in similar outfits to the ones she wore 10 years ago

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes and is wearing bright red lipstick. She wears a dark grey jacket and black jeans, a blue scarf and a blue and white striped blouse. She also wears a yellow beaded bracelet, yellow hoop earrings and a pink watch, and has a black shoulder bag worn across her body. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a brick wall, has a side-parting and longer fringe swept over her left eye. She wears a dark grey jacket, blue jeans, a white T-shirt with black writing on it and an orange bracelet. — Ms Jones is posing in similar outfits to the ones she wore 10 years ago

Mrs Benson, who died from breast cancer in October 2014, had been a volunteer at the charity's Harpenden shop for 13 years, so Ms Jones decided on a year-long campaign to honour her memory.

Naming the challenge to reflect that only her underwear was new, she hoped to raise £1,000, but her daily posts became so popular she raised about £70,000.

About four months into her latest challenge she said she hoped she could show others going through difficult times that things did change.

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and half-smiling. She has brown hair and blue eyes and has a yellow headband which holds her hair off her face. She is wearing a navy blue jacket, a navy blue scarf, blue jeans and a bright yellow Adidas T-shirt. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a brick wall, has a side-parting and longer fringe swept over her left eye. She wears a cream jacket and jumper with a mustard-coloured blouse and a navy skirt. She holds a yellow bag over her arm.

"[This time] it feels joyous," she said.

"My grief is much lighter and being 10 years older I feel more confident. I do feel more accepting of who I am, what I look like... hopefully that inner confidence shines through in my photographs."

She said that previously she was "hiding a lot behind my eyewear, behind my hair", and added: "I think that was probably me not wanting to be in front of a camera, thinking 'Am I good enough":[]}