A 13-year-old Westbury schoolgirl is planning to ‘brave the shave’ just a day before her 14th birthday in order to raise funds for a chronic pain charity.

Ella Hicks is planning to have her shoulder-length hair shaved off on October 31 at The Barber Shop Trio in Trowbridge’s The Shires shopping centre.

She’s doing it to raise funds for CRPS UK, a charity that helps people suffering from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

Ella suffers from a chronic pain condition similar to fibromyalgia, which has got progressively worse since being diagnosed last year, and she is now using a wheelchair.

Mum Kate Hicks, 49, of White Horse Way, Westbury, said: “Ella just feels pain where there is no cause for pain.

“She had it briefly last year in the right leg and then had a relapse and it now affects both ankles and her feet.”

Ella was a pupil at Matravers School in Westbury but mum and dad Kate and Matthew Hicks have been forced to pull her out of school after she suffered a flare up on her first day back in Year 9 in September.

Mr and Mrs Hicks said the school was unable to make the changes they had requested to improve access to a disabled toilet, extend the lunchtime break to allow Ella to eat and go to the toilet, and provide work for her to do at home when she was too ill to attend.

Mr Hicks, 47, said: “We tried to address these issues with the school, but many promises were made and none delivered on.”

Ella is now being schooled by Kate at home while waiting to see a pain specialist at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Matravers School has been approached for a comment but so far has failed to respond.