A boy from Barnsley has said goodbye to his long hair in a bid to raise money and awareness for a charity that helps children who have lost their hair due to cancer and other treatments.

Harrison Williams, age 13, underwent the dramatic haircut to aid The Little Princess Trust. Established in 2006 by Wendy Tarplee-Morris, in memory of her five-year-old daughter Hannah, the charity provides free real hair wigs to children and young people, up to 24 years, who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. 

With his last haircut coming four years ago, Outwood Academy Carlton’s Harrison was able to donate a lot of hair to the charity in addition to raising much needed funds to support the brilliant work the charity does.

Speaking after the haircut, Harrison said: “I am so happy I went through with this. I know my mum was worried when I told her I wanted to do it, but she has been so supportive and helped me to fundraise for it. I am really thankful to her.

“I want to say a big thank you to my school as well, to all the staff and students who have donated and supported me through this. Before I got my haircut I visited other groups in the school to tell them about what I was doing and everyone started clapping for me. It was really cool.”

Before the cut, Harrison set himself a fundraising target of £500 and set up a Just Giving page to help people donate. The page is still live if people wish to donate. At the moment he has smashed his target by nearly double.

Harrison was taken to Karl Smiths Mens Grooming Centre in Barnsley for his big chop. Karl kindly did his cut for free and Harrison loved the whole experience. Being videoed live on Facebook for all his followers to see too.

Paul Haynes, Principal at Harrison’s school, said:

“We are so proud of Harrison. He is a brilliant and caring young man to do something so kind and selfless as this to raise money for others.”

In addition to the free real hair wigs the charity provides to those who need it, The Little Princess Trust is also one of the largest charity funders of paediatric cancer research in the UK.

Anyone wanting to donate, can visit Harrion’s Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/harrison-williams5.