A third year student at the College, Sonal Sumaria, had volunteered at the Little Princess Trust (LPT) as part of her Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and had previously donated her hair to the charity. So, when coming up with a topic for her Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), she chose a sponsored haircut which would help the two charities closest to her heart – donating hair to the Little Princess Trust whilst raising vital funds for RNC, where she studies. For the project, Sonal had to demonstrate her communication, presentation, planning and organisational skills to pull the event together. She invited Wendy Tarplee-Morris (Founder) and Phil Brace (Chief Executive Officer) from LPT to the College, to give a talk about their work. She promoted the event, set up a JustGiving page and organised venue hire and refreshments. She also encouraged others to donate their hair and roped in an RNC volunteer and three members of staff – Jennifer Lewin, Nina Lutterer, Flea Parry and Lisa Roberts. The ‘Charity Hair Chop!’ took place on Saturday 11 March at thePoint4 leisure facility in Hereford. The College community, and family and friends of the fearless five came out in force to support the event, with Sonal’s mother and sister, Asha and Nikita, also travelling up from London to support her. Flea, Jennifer, Lisa, Nina and Sonal are hugely grateful to Julie Smith the Hairdresser who donated her time for free. She worked so hard, particularly in front of an audience, allowing them to walk away with five stylish new haircuts. As well as donating their hair, between them, the team have raised a hair-raising total for RNC, which at the last count was over £1,000. These funds will go towards refurbishing areas of the College, updating kit and buying specialist equipment. After unveiling her new hairdo, Sonal said: ‘I really enjoyed putting this wonderful event together, it was such a positive atmosphere and I’m overwhelmed with the amount of funds we have raised and, above all, I have a lovely new haircut! It was also really important to me to raise funds for RNC, since I have been a student here for a long time and I wanted to give back and say thank you for all the support everyone at RNC has given me!’ It’s not too late to show your support, please visit their JustGiving page for more information here. Here's a short film from the day:
On the morning of 24 March, Sonal, Flea and Lisa took their hair donations to the Little Princess Trust HQ and handed them over to Wendy-Tarplee Morris, the founder of the LPT charity. In return, each of the donors were presented with a certificate of thanks. Wendy gave the group a fascinating tour of the Charity's headquarters, showing how a wig is made and how they are packed, organised and stored in hair type, length, colour and head circumference. She spoke about the band of volunteers who help to sort the hair donations and collate and send out fundraising packs. The work of the charity now extends to research into childhood cancers, giving 'hair and hope' to young people with cancer. The photo below shows Flea, Sonal and Lisa holding up their certificates in front of Sally's Salon at the Little Princess Trust's Headquarters.