Betty Neville selling long-time business Betty Boo Wigs

The businesswoman, who started as a hairdresser and trained many apprentices over the years, is moving towards retirement after more than 25 years in charge of Betty Boo Wigs.

Mrs Neville launched the first Look Good Feel Better program outside of the capital cities in Griffith in the 1990s after she began to make wigs for cancer patients.

As her collection grew, she began to supply them to production companies and schools for performances.

"The only people in those days that had costumes was the Griffith Regional Theatre and they had them stuck down in the basement. I made an offer and they sold them to me, and that's how it started," Mrs Neville said.

"We opened up a premises in Griffith and we had an old shed at the back and three containers of stuff.

"We had a full house that had a 60s room, a 70s room and an 80s room. We had one area that we called the green room, which housed all the movie costumes like The Mask and Harley Quinn and Beauty and the Beast.

"When a movie came out, everyone would ask for a costume from that movie and then you've got to do it best. You can buy the costumes at the cheap shops, but if you do the makeup and the hair and wigs properly, they look amazing.

"We would go to auctions in Sydney because costume houses would sell things and it just became huge."

The first costume she made was The Phantom, which she has kept for sentimental value.

"There was a doctor that was absolutely obsessed with The Phantom and he wanted a costume, so I sat up all night and made this costume," she said.

"He was about the same size as my son, so I put it on him first. That costume has been my treasure and we've always kept it because of that.

"It went out and out, but now no one knows who The Phantom is.

"Jack Sparrow would be one of our most hired and the best costumes are from Alice in Wonderland, it's been very big because people do the whole family up."

At one stage, Mrs Neville even drew attention from police for some outfits she had hired out.

"When we bought the costumes from the theatre, they had all these police uniforms and hats, so I did this whole group up as police. The police raided the place they were at and made them strip down to their undies otherwise they would have been charged for being in possession of stolen goods and imitating police," she laughed.

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"The police came the next morning with dogs and everything so took some of it off me, because even though it was older, it still had the badges and things on it. I have to say it was very funny."

Mrs Neville made the decision to move back to Albury in 2018 for health reasons, but has remained involved in productions on the Border.

She has been helping out with preparations for Albury Wodonga Theatre Company's Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, but in a much more limited capacity.

"I've done productions here and helped with The Phantom of the Opera with The Wizard of Oz and all my costumes go out to those things," she said.

"If I was fully involved, like I was with Wicked or Beauty and the Beast, you go to bed at night and you think about things, you wake up at two in the morning and you end up going to work on two hours sleep.

"It does have an effect on your health. Even though your juices are going, it just takes over."

Mrs Neville is seeking expressions of interest for someone to purchase the business and her collection of more than 450 wigs, hundreds of hats, dinner suits, vast array of outfits and even full body mascots.

"I love the job, but I can't do it any more because I'm too old," she said.

"COVID hit and we're just trying to clean it all up and set it up. It's all very orderly, but it's just that we didn't open up as a business here.

"If someone took it over, I would definitely work with them and give them ideas.

"With all the different costume houses here, this would be a great business to start because you can work with all the different costume places and hire things out.

"They haven't got all those things and to buy them is costing them a fortune, so it's much easier if they just hire it for a period of time."

The business has given her memories she will forever cherish.

"I've had a great life, but I want another 20 years," she said.

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