Schoolgirl from Marple shaves head, raising a whopping 5K for charity
A 12 year-old school girl has shaved her hair and donated it to the Little Princess Trust Charity.
Last updated 18th Jun 2018
Holly Myers, from Marple Bridge, shaved her hair at the Windsor Castle Pub in her home village on Saturday in an emotional evening and raised £1,700 alone on the night. She is personally taking all 17 inches down to Hereford to deliver it in person.
Holly said: “It’s a shock but I will get used to it. I am lucky that my hair will grow back quickly unlike some of the children that I will be helping.”
The act has been a two-year process and was inspired by a school friend who had donated her hair to the same charity.
Headteacher Rachael Allen said: “We are so proud of Holly, she has shown real tenacity and determination in donating her hair and is setting a brilliant example to her peers.”
The Little Princess Trust was launched in 2006 by the parents of Hannah Tarplee who was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour and died in 2005. It provides real hair wigs free of charge to children and young people up to the age of 24 that have sadly lost their own hair due to cancer treatment and other illnesses.
Chair of Governors at Hulme Hall Grammar, Tim Lowe, was one of the co-founders and is a Trustee of the charity. He was a former Headmaster of the Hereford school at the time when Hannah was a pupil and is still involved with the charity.
Tim said: “It takes a lot of time and effort to ensure the hair is in the right condition to be used. Holly is following in the footsteps of many other wonderful people including Jessie J and more recently, the Duchess of Cambridge, who donated her hair in January this year.”
Holly’s hair will be sent off to China where skilled specialists blend the hair donations together to create their wigs. It can take between 7-10 individual donations to make a single wig which will then be given to a child in the UK or Ireland.