A KIND-HEARTED girl from Mary Tavy has raised £1,000 for the Little Princess Trust with the gift of her long locks.

Willow Dowdham, eight, wanted to help other children who have suffered hair loss due to cancer and other illnesses.

She grew her hair long and thick and then submitted to the scissors of Tavistock hairdresser Leanne James, who kindly volunteered her services.

Willow now has a bobbed style, which she loves, and her long pony tails have been dispatched to the charity to be made into wigs for other children.

Her proud parents, Lyndsey Cudmore and Wayne Downham, said: ‘Willow has always wanted to grow her hair for this charity from the age of four. Her hair is so thick she couldn’t let it go to waste. She’s had a total of six ponytails of hair at 14 inches long. This amount of hair and sponsor money will make a wig to give a child in need the opportunity to have a wig fitted and consultation.

‘We are very proud as parents that our kind and thoughtful daughter has taken the leap to have so much hair cut off! Thank you for everyone who has supported her to do this. She is totally rocking her new hair cut. Thank you also to Leanne James for cutting her hair and being brave enough to do it! She absolutely loves it.’

Willow goes to Mary Tavy and Brentor Primary School, where her fellow pupils had also supported her. ‘She had a little donation box and stood at the gate,’ said mum Lyndsey. ‘We are really proud,’ she added. ‘She has raised £1,009 which really isn’t bad!

‘We thought she might raise £100, that is what we were expecting, so to raise £1,000 is brilliant. And there are still people who are sending money.

‘The charity is the Little Princess Trust. They make wigs for children who are going through chemotherapy and who have lost their hair.’

She said Willow loved her new cut ‘even though it is shorter it is still taking ages to dry. I’m thinking ‘how is that possible?’ She added that Willow was thinking of growing her hair again and donating again, sometime in the future.