Famous for its medieval abbey and association with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Whitby is now almost as well known for its popularity with goths.
Held twice a year in April and October, the event includes live music, discos and markets, with more than 100 stalls.
Ms Hampshire said before the Whitby Goth Weekend she knew very few people who shared her interest.
“It was before the days of the internet. I came from Barnsley. When I was growing up in the 1980s I loved Boy George and Steve Strange, I loved fantastical looking people, but there weren’t any in Barnsley.
“I thought ‘how am I going to get to know any?’ So I put an advert in NME magazine in their pen friends section.”
She said she received about 100 replies and began letter writing with 40 other goths.
“We decided to meet in Whitby because we thought they would be used to seeing people like us,” she told BBC Radio Sheffield.
“But when we got there it became apparent they had never seen people like us, and they had never run a Dracula convention.
“We turned up all in black and they were like ‘who are these people who have come to town’ but we were so well behaved they took us to their hearts. In 1995 there was 200 of us and it’s grown organically over all these years.”
