Anyone who knows me will know how much I love my hair. In memory of my dear friends Melanie Guimaraens and Lynn Choppen, both of whom sadly passed to cancer last year, I will be doing a head shave fundraiser to support the Rowans Hospice.

Melanie had a Squamous Cell Carcinoma from her primary condition of Scleroderma, a rare skin disorder. She lost her right leg 11 years ago, as the skin on the top of her foot started to breakdown, the wound became cancerous, culminating in an amputation just below the knee. In 2022/23 the same thing started to happen to her left foot. The foot was a swollen, infected, and was a weeping wound. Melanie always said she did not want to compromise her life by keeping the limb and in May 2023 she became a double amputee. She was my little Ninja warrior, fighting so hard to stay with us. She sadly passed six weeks from the date of the second amputation.

Lynn Choppen had a pain in her left shoulder. This gradually worsened and she was taken into hospital. Following several scans, after 10 days, they found Stage 4 cancer in her lung, pleural cavity and bones. Lynn was told she had a few days to say goodbye to her family, and it was five weeks from the pain in her shoulder to her passing. That is how brutal cancer can be.

Both these lovely ladies went through so much pain, that anything I could do seemed insignificant compared to what they had both gone through.

One of my oldest friends, Kevin Blackburn, is the Captain of the Lee-On-The-Solent Golf Club this year and his chosen charity is Rowans Hospice. I had been thinking about doing a head shave and it all just seemed to slot into place. So, on the 12th of May I will be having my head shaved at the Lee-On-The-Solent Golf Club. We will also be doing a number of fundraising events throughout the year to try to raise as much as we can for Rowans Hospice.

Rowans Hospice provides free care and support to adults who have a life-limiting illness. Many of us think that a hospice is all about dying. But through their many different services, they support people to live as well as they can with their illness, as well as their family, friends and carers. This will be from the moment of diagnosis through to bereavement support. Care can be provided in their nineteen bed in-care unit based in Waterlooville in Hampshire or the Hospice at Home Team. It costs over £7 million to deliver the clinical care per annum. 90% of the running costs are dependant on donations, fundraising, legacies, charity shops etc. So please can I ask that you give as much as you can, so that their amazing work can continue for years to come.