Northampton woman and eight-year-old goddaughter chop more than 30 inches of hair to be made into wigs

A Northampton woman and her goddaughter gave up more than 30 inches of their hair to raise more than £1,000 for a children’s cancer charity.

Brandi Saunders, from Northampton, and her goddaughter Elizabeth Hobbs aged 8, raised £1,040 and donated their long hair to the Little Princess Trust, which provides real hair wigs free of charge for children undergoing cancer treatment.

Brandi who is a customer care co-ordinator for Persimmon Homes has been growing her hair for years for this selfless reason.

She said: “We are so proud of how much we raised for this wonderful charity and I’m incredibly grateful to my colleagues at Persimmon for supporting my fundraising campaign.

“We had an amazing day, full of excitement and emotional moments, and we were both astonished when our hair was measured.

“I had 16 inches cut off and Elizabeth lost 15 inches.

“We both look very different now, but we love our new, short hairstyles.

“I promised myself I would do this one day and had been growing my hair for seven years to grow out any dye as the charity can only take natural coloured hair.

“Part of me wishes I had fully ‘braved the shave’ but my fiancé might have had second thoughts about marrying me in January if I had gone completely bald.”

Since 2006, the Little Princess Trust has provided more than 8,000 wigs and have given grants totalling more than £7 million towards research projects focused on finding more effective treatments for childhood cancers.

Persimmon Homes regional divisional director, Simon McDonald, added: “Everyone in the team is incredibly proud of Brandi’s fundraising efforts and we were delighted to help her to exceed her £1,000 target.

“As a company we encourage employees to take part in a wide range of charity activities and we are always happy to support such a worthwhile charity as the Little Princess Trust.”

Find out more about Little Princess Trust on the charity’s website.