DAVE Griffiths prides himself on “keeping it together”. Despite losing his wife to cancer a little over a year ago and the tragic death of the couple’s son six years ago, he has always tried to remain as stoic as possible. Then he saw his 16-year-old daughter Paris walk downstairs dressed in her beautiful red prom gown.

“I did shed a tear and that’s something I never do,” said Dave.

“Paris looked so beautiful, but it was more than just how she looked. It was seeing her so happy after losing her mum so suddenly. I was lost for words.”

David, who lives in Coggeshall, made many sacrifices to give Paris a night to remember at Colne Valley Golf Club, where Honywood Community Science School’s annual prom was held on July 5. But he doesn’t regret a penny of it.

He explained: “I was a carpet fitter for 25 years and we never had to worry about money.

“Then I tore the cartilage in my knees so I had to find a different job. Now I work to keep Coggeshall tidy. I sweep roads and empty bins and do general maintenance, so I don’t get paid that much. I had to go without a few things to save up for Paris’s prom fund, but that’s what a lot of parents have to do.

“When it comes to your kids, you just want to make them happy, don’t you?”

As proms get more popular and move lavish, many parents have to shell out hundreds of pounds on their daughter’s prom dress, not to mention the added extras of beauty treatments and hiring limos for the night.

Dave said: “I wanted to give Paris the dress of her dreams and although it cost £400 and it was a lot of scrimping and scraping, I did it.

“Then it was too long and needed to be altered, so that was another £70 I had to find.”

On top of this expense was £25 for Paris’s nails and £35 for her hair to be done.

Paris, who managed to get top GCSE grades despite the loss of her mum and was even voted head girl at Honywood, also contributed, working at her local Co-op store at the weekends for extra cash.

Dave added: “Paris understands the value of money. I know she appreciated me saving up for the prom. As she arrived at the prom she kissed me on the cheek and said ‘thanks dad, I love you’. That meant the world to me.”

David was left raising Paris alone after his wife, Gill, died in May 2012.

“It was terrible,” he said.

“We took her to the hospital complaining of stomach pains. It was put down to a pulled muscle and she was sent home with painkillers.”

Six weeks later the family were dealt the blow that it was colon cancer. While Gill was going though chemotherapy she developed an infection and died at Colchester Hospital.

Dave said: “We were called over at 3am in the morning and within a few hours she had died.

“It’s just Paris and I now. Christmas was hard for both of us, but we are getting through. Paris’s mum helped instill in her a lot of positive traits, including strength. “I’m so proud of the way she has handled everything.”

Paris is now planning to study A Levels at Colchester Sixth Form College and hopes to one day become a solicitor.

The next big expense for Dave will probably be helping Paris get to university, though he admits at the moment even finding her £5 bus fare to college every day will be a struggle.

Dave said: “Of course it’s hard being a single parent and when it comes to things like school proms I feel for other parents who struggle to afford it.

“It’s wrong that these things can sometimes become a competition of who can spend the most. Proms are obviously an American obsession and have become a bit too much over here with more and more money spent.

“But, on the other hand, I can’t put a price on making my daughter happy and it’s a night that she will always remember.”