Derbyshire mum works her magic on Ex on the Beach star Charlotte Dawson's family photos of late comedian Les

Alfreton mum Kay runs a digital editing business in which she merges photos of people with relatives that have passed on.

Her work has been championed by Ex on the Beach star Charlotte Dawson, the daughter of the late comedian Les. Kay said: “I did a picture for Charlotte when she put a post on Instagram about missing her father. She loved it and sent me a video showing how much she treasured it. One of the images I did for her stands on Les Dawson’s piano in her home. She used one of my images on her Mother’s Day card last year and one on her birthday cake.”

Another commission saw Kay combine photos featuring other members of Charlotte’s family. “Charlotte wanted an image of her niece’s father, who had sadly passed away, putting on a picture with her niece. She put the image on a bottle of champagne as a present for her niece’s wedding day.

“Charlotte recommended me to do a picture for Seema Malhotra from TV’s Cheshire Housewives. I did a picture for her 50th birthday which she put on Instagram and said was her favourite present.”

Kay was also commissioned by ex semi-professional footballer turned model Leon Scott to do an image for his girlfriend Melissa’s birthday.

She said: "I've had some heartwarming videos, it’s so emotional watching people receive the images.”

The 41-year-old entrepreneur finds it deeply moving to listen to the stories behind the images she’s creating. Kay said: “I've had people that have lost children; I’ve edited them in with new additions to the family so they have a full family picture. I've done images with children that have been stillborn or young children that have had something happen to them. It’s heartbreaking but when you hear back how much parents treasure the pictures, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Prices start at £26 for a job that could take up to two hours and Kay charges according to how much work goes into it and how many people are in the image. Kay said: “I;d rather do them to help people with the grieving process rather than charge extortionate prices and not be able to help as many people.”

She estimates to have created thousands of images for customers as far away as Australia, Africa and Dubai since launching ‘Memory box – photo edits’ nearly two years ago and promotes her work on Facebook and Instagram.

Kay, who lives at Birch Close, built her business from scratch, teaching herself how to combine photos using various apps and software.

She said: “My mother in law, Joyce Start, died suddenly four years ago from cancer. My little girl wanted a photo of her with Joyce. I went in the memory box and dug the photos out and I created an image. After doing the photo, friends and family saw it and said you ought to give it a go.”

Redundancy forced Kay into turning a part-time hobby into a full-time job. When the Covid pandemic began she was a manager at a conference centre in South Normanton but when meetings went online she was made redundant from a post that she had held for 11 years. Kay said: “I didn’t realise that I hadn’t paid all my National Insurance contributions when I had a year off with my little boy so when it came to Jobseeker’s Allowance, I couldn't get anything.”

With nothing to lose, Kay moved into her new line of work. She said: “I realised I was doing quite well, so I registered my business. It’s very busy now with Mother’s Day coming up and I’ve got a waiting list. I love my job because it’s helping people.”

Kay grew up in Clay Cross and went to Tupton Hall School. She moved to Alfreton nearly 20 years ago after meeting her partner Dave, who is an HGV fitter. Now married, the couple have a daughter Chloe, who will be 10 on March 15, and son Alfie, 5.