A GRANDMOTHER shaved her head this weekend in memory of the charity that helped care for her late grandson.

Sue Barrett, from Moredon, took the courageous step of having her long locks chopped off to raise money and awareness for children’s hospice charity Helen and Douglas House.

The 65-year-old’s selfless act was for her baby grandson Charlie Fry who passed away in 2012 aged 17 days after he was born with short-gut syndrome, which meant he couldn’t digest food.

Charlie went to Helen & Douglas House in Oxford with his parents, Sue’s daughter Jo and husband Mark to be looked after for the last days of his short life.

To honour little Charlie’s memory, the head shave took place on what would have been his 5th birthday on May 6.

Sue held onto a photo of her beloved grandson as retired hairdresser Jackie ‘OShaughnessy completely removed her hair at Sainsbury’s Bridgemead.

Sue said: “I feel fine about it. This is our way of remembering Charlie and saying, he is still with us. I have done this before and it doesn’t bother me. What’s more exciting is knowing how much money we can raise for the charity. We will never forget Charlie.

Charlie’s parents stayed in a bedsit in the hospice where they were able to live together as a family with the support of the staff.

Sue said: “Not only did Helen and Douglas care for Charlie, they cared for his family. They gave Jo and Mark a place to stay, meals, they cleaned, they did it all so they could spend all of their time with him in his last days. We will be forever grateful to them.”

Sue has already raised more than £1,000 for the hospice with her first head shave in 2013 and hopes to raise £500 this time around.

Jo, 33, attended on the day with husband Mark and sons Joseph, three and nine-month-old Elliott. Jo and Mark have also fundraised for Helen and Douglas by taking part in the Santa Run and Rainbow Run events.

She said: “It means the world to me that mum is doing this today. The charity took away every day-to-day household thing when Charlie was ill and allowed us to stay with him and focus on him. I am very proud of my mum.”

There were also collection buckets for donations and balloons and stickers for children.