A close shave whilst Boots raise money for MacMillian

Boots in Milford on Sea high street had a fun day whilst raising valuable funds for MacMillan Cancer Support on Sunday 24th September.

Store Manager, Charlotte Whiteside said: ''We had a fabulous day, lots of people came out to enjoy the fun and we raised £2,331. £430 of that alone came from the cakes and jams and chutneys that the local WI sold! The local WI, lead by Di Cobbett always support any fundraising we do and we are so grateful for the time and energy they put in to helping us."

Andrew Akroyd, Relief Pharmacist from Boots, who works regularly at Boots within Waitrose in Lymington had his head shaved by Charlotte for Brave The Shave, and Andrew has so far raised £1,545 via his Just Giving page, an absolutely incredible amount. I had great fun shaving his head ha ha !!

Charlotte explained; "Simon Digweed of Fuel Hair Mechanics in the village did a great job watching over me to make sure Andrew looked decent after I removed his hair, beard and ‘tash. Simon gave up his time and offered his experience to make sure it was a success."

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The day went really smoothly, lovely locals turned up with gazebo's for us to borrow and even erected them for us. We were all ready to go by 9am, in time for the first set of musicians, Reeds in Harmony, to start playing and volunteers at the ready to sell raffle tickets. We had already raised £500 in raffle ticket sales in the last two weeks, just in case it was rained off. I always like to have a Plan B!

Drastic Measures
local barbers shop quartet
 and local musicians, Mike & Ivan
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We received raffle prizes from many local businesses, The Retreat, Coastal Bakery, No 64 The Biscuit House, Hurst Castle, Pizza Express in Christchurch, Innocent Drinks and many local people also donated wonderful gifts.

I couldn't have done it without my local volunteers, they were fantastic!

Once I had introduced the barber to Andrew, we got set up, ready to go and shaved his head, much to the crowds delight with whoops and cheers aplenty.

We finished at 12 noon after music from Drastic Measures, a local barbers shop quartet and two local musicians, Mike & Ivan playing on the guitar and keys, who very kindly offered up their time to help us.

We were exceptionally lucky with the weather, it was a beautiful sunny day and so warm that everyone was in a great mood and ready for cake and fun.

I was amazed when I turned around and there stood Esther Rantzan from ‘Thats Life’ & ‘Childline’, chatting with one of my regulars!

I seized the opportunity and went over and we had a good chat, I explained what we were doing and why. Esther loved it and thought it was a brilliant idea, she had some cake and a cuppa, gave me a donation and off she went.

All in all, it really couldn't have gone better and we all loved every second of it and I so enjoyed organising it all.

Macmillan is very close to my heart as they were fantastic when my Grandpa was dying of cancer when I was 14, I have never forgotten how they lightened the load for my family during such a dreadful time.

We do have some paintings left over from the art sale and Gail from Tradewinds in Milford is going to display them for us and once sold, will give us all of the money for Macmillan.

Milford on Sea isn't like any other village I have ever visited or worked in, people are so very generous with their time and are always happy to support a good cause. ''