Melksham fundraisers celebrate head shave cancer total

A MELKSHAM teenager has raised a total of £600 for Cancer Research UK after a charity head shave. 

Matty Tanner, who attends Melksham Oak has now collected in all the money and presented a cheque to the chairman of Melksham branch of Cancer Research UK, Marie Bucknell-Smith, at a presentation last week.

Matty decided to raise the money as he wanted to contribute to a great cause and was well-known at school for his hair which he had not cut for months. For this reason, he chose to have a head shave to raise money for the charity.

The year 10 pupil said, “It feels strange not having my hair, but I am really glad I did it. I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped, supported and sponsored me. I am pleased with the amount raised as I only targeted £100 to begin with.

“I definitely want to do more fundraising things in the future”

Marie Bucknell-Smith from the Cancer Research Melksham branch said, “On behalf of Cancer Research UK, we would like to thank Matty for raising such an amazing amount of money for our charity. We are very grateful and appreciative of all of his effort and he is truly an inspiration to young people everywhere.

“The money Matty raised would cover training for a week for one of our PhD students at Cancer Research UK, as well as training for a team of nurses to learn about communication and providing a confidential service to people with concerns about cancer.”

Matty’s friend Sam Robinson who is also in year 10 said, “I couldn’t believe it when I heard Matty was going to have his hair shaved off. He loves his hair so it will be strange to see him without it. We are proud of what he has done and think it’s really good.”

The head shave took place at the barber shop on Union Street with barber Shaun Heathcote having the honour of shaving Matty’s hair off. He said, “It’s amazing what he has done. Fair play to him, it is something I couldn’t do and he has raised a lot of money, so well done to him!”