South Shields man to cut long locks for two charities at Westoe hair salon

A South Shields man will cut his long locks for charity, this Saturday, May 13 at Crown Hair and Beauty, located in Westoe Crown Village.

Stephen Mcatamey, aged 50 years old has been intentionally growing his hair over the past three years with the idea to get it chopped off in order to donate it to the Little Princess Trust.

Little Princess Trust, uses the donated hair from people like Stephen to provide free wigs to children and young people who have sadly lost their own hair through cancer or other conditions.

We sat down with Stephen to chat about his upcoming chop. He explained that he first started to grow his hair during the first lockdown, due to salons across the country having to close.

However, once he found out that his hair could be donated to the Little Princess Trust once it was a certain length, he decided to continue growing it with the intention of eventually donating it. “I thought, I’ve left it for this long, I might as well keep growing it” Stephen said. “Now, my hair is long enough to donate to the charity!”

Stephen will also be using his hair cut as an opportunity to raise money for another charity, Tiny Tickers.  Tiny Tickers support babies who have been born with serious heart conditions.

Stephen explained that he chose Tiny Tickers due to personal reasons, “My cousin’s daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, so there’s a family tie.”

But it’s not the first time Stephen has raised money for the important charity, as he has previously done so as part of charity bike rides with Ride to Recovery.

Crown Hair and Beauty, based in the Westoe Crown Village have kindly offered to cut Stephen’s hair free of charge on Saturday at 1pm.

Stephen explained: “My wife was going to cut it but she broke her wrist.”

He continued: “I just walked into Crown Hair and Beauty and asked if they would cut it and they very kindly agreed.”

Crown Hair and Beauty said: “We are so excited to have Stephen come along on Saturday. It’s a honour to provide the service to him, especially to help towards the two incredible causes.”

Stephen, who is originally from Northern Ireland but now resides in South Shields with his wife and children said of the hair cut on Saturday: “I can’t wait. It’s going to be great!”

Stephen set up a JustGiving page, with a target of £1,500 to be raised for Tiny Tickers. With only four days left until the big chop, Stephen has surpassed his target and his total currently stands at £1,775 from 62 supporters.

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