£1000 charity boost from Cupar man's first haircut since lockdown started

Paul Sykes, before and after his head shave for charity

Paul Sykes replaced his long lockdown locks with a completely bald Kojak look in one sitting.

Like many other workers across the Kingdom, he has been working from home for the past 18 months, since the first pandemic lockdown was announced in March 2020, and hadn’t had a haircut or proper shave during that time.

“I didn’t get a haircut and didn’t bother to shave for the first few months,” said Paul. “Then my wife said she liked the ageing rocker look and suggested I keep my hair and beard long.

Paul Sykes following his shave and haircut.

“I didn’t realise we’d be going into another lockdown, however, and that I would end up with hair down my back and a bushy beard,” he continued.

Paul, who works for Fife Chamber of Commerce, withstood lots of jokes and comments from friends and family about his hairy look, and decided to invite them to donate funds to embolden him to go for the big shave.

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“I wanted to encourage people to contribute as much as possible so I could raise some money for Fife Chamber’s member charities and people who have had a tough time over the last 18 months,” Paul said.

Last weekend, Paul visited Yasper barbers shop in Cupar where manager James Calderwood did the honours, streaming the haircut and shave live on Facebook.

James offered his services for free and chose to donate his tip to Paul’s fund.

Setting an original goal of £200, Paul has so far raised a remarkable £920 and as a result has now set a new target of £1000.

The funds will be shared between lone parent and family support charity Fife Gingerbread; Levenmouth Foodbank; CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland); Aberlour Children’s Charity; baby loss counselling and support charity Held in our Hearts; BRAG Enterprises (Benarty Regeneration Action Group); homeless charity Cyrenians; Heroes Drinks Co, a non-profit company and fundraiser for military charities; cancer support centre Maggie’s Fife; and Seescape (Fife Society for the Blind).

You can find out more about how you can donate to Paul’s fundraising pot via the JustGiving page at: https://bit.ly/3m6ai3n