A BOXING champ and council chairwoman are shaving off their locks for cancer care.

The head shave comes ahead of a charity boxing showdown at the Meca later this year.

Linda Brown, chairwoman of Haydon Wick Parish Council, will shave off her hip-length hair at the end of the month in aid of Brighter Futures.

She will be joined by Neil Bridges, a manager at Swindon recruitment business Responsive Personnel.

The firm is sponsoring local boxing legend Darren Grace in a December fight night. “For every punch he lands on his opponent we’ll donate a pound,” said Neil, 38.

Bullish Darren, 40, who has been boxing for three years and will shave his head before the fight, said: “I’m feeling fine about the fight.”

He joked: “It’s still a long way off.”

The money raised from the fight night will go to the Brighter Futures’ radiotherapy appeal, Responsive Personnel’s charity of the year.

The charity needs to raise £2.9million to help fund a new cancer-fighting radiotherapy unit at the Great Western Hospital.

Currently, cancer suffers are forced to make the gruelling 70-mile round trip to Oxford and back.

Last week Linda, Neil and Darren faced off at the boxer’s training gym in Stratton.

Linda, 55, a Haydon Wick councillor, said that Brighter Futures was a cause close to her heart.

Her father, Mick, died 10 years ago after battling cancer. She will shave off her locks just days after the 10th anniversary of his death.

Linda said: “Dad was lucky. He lived in Oxford and was able to walk to the hospital for his therapy. People in Swindon don’t have that opportunity.

“I think it’s important that the facilities that are there in Oxford should be available to people in Swindon.”

Linda, who now works as a gardener, has grown her hair long after leaving an engineering apprenticeship in Oxford.

“It’s not so much that I enjoy having long hair. It’s finding the time to go to the hairdresser,” said Linda, who has previously had her hair braided into Caribbean-style cornrows.

Linda will split the funds she raises between Brighter Futures and Cancer Research UK.

She said: “I just thought, ‘If it’s going to go, I might as well do it for charity.’”

To donate to Brighter Futures, visit: www.brighterfuturesgwh.nhs.uk.