Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Please spare a moment of your time to read my story, I hope you will consider it a worthy enough challenge to sponsor me however small the amount to help me reach my target!

After a lifetime of having very long hair I have decided to chop it all off (not quite shaved like Jessie J did but short enough).   

You may not think this is a challenge worthy of your sponsorship but please read on….

I intend to donate my hair to a fantastic charity called ‘Little Princess Trust’ who make real hair wigs to support children and teens who have suffered hair loss through cancer or alopecia.  These wigs, made in particularly small sizes normally cost upto £2,000 to make but are manufactured from donations like mine and then given free to the Charity.  

 
I am also hoping to raise lots of money for Bowles Outdoor Centre, an outdoor experiential learning charity, who are celebrating their 50th year and aiming to raise £50k bursary fund to help subsidise activities for disadvantaged and disabled young people at the Centre.  Since working at the Charity I have been so inspired by my amazing colleagues, many of whom have already selflessly given up their time to participate in their own fantastic sporting challenges for Bowles. Unfortunately I am utterly rubbish at cycling and swimming and whilst I have never skied snowboarded or climbed a mountain due to health reasons - these things are on my bucket list and I am hopeful Bowles may help me achieve some of it one day.  So my challenge is not so much a feat of endurance or an arduous athletic event like a marathon but simply my way of making a small contribution and giving back.

My friends and family will know just what a personal sacrifice it is for me to chop off my hair and that it is not just a matter of vanity.  Having congenital Aortic Stenosis and going through 4 major heart surgeries since the age of 18 I still feel gratitude that I have been lucky enough to never have had an illness that made me lose my hair or a limb.  I am however not without my fair share of spectacular scars (indeed in my youth I recall the one time I lay on a beach in my finest bikini and being asked by a stranger ‘wow what is that mark on your back’ to which I jokingly replied ‘Oh it’s a shark bite). Despite my bravado this incident left me feeling self-conscious for a number of years and grateful to have such a long mane as a security blanket to hide behind.

I am now excitedly looking forward with gusto and with your encouragement to shedding my blanket on 6th December with the aid of the lovely team at Lox Hairdressers in Rotherfield  and embracing short hair, a cold neck and a new me!

Please please sponsor me however small and let's help these 2 fantastic charities!

THANK YOU

Ali

www.littleprincesses.org.uk

www.bowles.ac