Nursery worker Lisa Clarke gave up her long locks to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

She was just four when she first suffered bereavement and has lost several family members and friends to the disease in the years since. So she faced the clippers in a special fundraiser at Windmill Hill Day Nursery where she is a nursery practitioner, and raised almost £1,000.

She said: “This is a cause which is incredibly close to my heart so I’m thrilled to be making this donation. I am so grateful for all the support I’ve received and am currently in the process of researching charities which I can donate my hair to also.”

The initiative is the most recent fundraising activity for Windmill Hill, which has also enjoyed dress up days, sponsored step challenges, virtual balloon races and its their efforts to raise money for CRUK.

In December the charity announced it had been forced to cut research funding by £45 million due to losses from the pandemic.

It represented around half what it would normally expect to have been spending and meant many research projects with the potential to save lives were left unfunded. The charity warned the cuts would have long term effects , slowing down breakthroughs and cutting the chances of reaching its aim to ensure three in four people survived cancer by 2034.

The nursery adopted CRUK in 2020 for a year-long fundraising drive, which has now been extended until the end of 2021.