A NINE-year-old boy from Hatherleigh has donated 22 inches of hair, along with sponsorship money, to a charity who specialise in making wigs for children and young people.

Joe Keast, who lives in Hatherleigh with his family, sat down to have his hair cut by Maggie at Art of Hair on Tuesday afternoon as soon as he finished school.

Joe’s mum, Tracy, said: ‘Joe’s had long hair for five and a half years now. We were talking about what we could do with it and he said to me that he loved the idea that he could make someone else happy by giving them his hair. I measured his hair and from root to tip and it was 22 inches long!’

In addition to donating his hair to the Little Princess Trust, Joe decided he wished to raise money for them too, and asked friends and family members to sponsor him.

Tracy added: ‘As his mother, I can’t even express how incredibly proud I am of him. He’s done different things for charity with school before but this is his first solo effort. He set himself a target of £100 and had already raised £170 before he sat down for the cut.’

The Little Princess Trust provide real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair following cancer treatments and other conditions. According to their website, the charity has donated over 12,000 wigs since 2006.

Joe’s grandmother Christina Booth said: ‘Joe’s announcement that he wanted to cut his hair and donate it came as quite an unexpected surprise to us. I’ve always known my handsome grandson to have long hair in the past few years. It’s quite something for a young person to do. His brother Isaac also had long hair too but he cut his earlier this year and I know Joe really looks up to him. To be thinking of donating to and helping others at such a young age makes me feel so proud of him. Boys of his age usually wouldn’t but I think in times like these, people are always thinking of others more and more.’