Big Cut Off raises £1000

The Drum and Monkey, Trafford Road Barbers and Cancer Research came together on Sunday to raise £1000 for Cancer Research UK.

They organised a Big Cut Off for those who'd taken part in this year's Movember - a month-long event which involves the growing of moustaches to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression.

Each 'mo bro' started the month with a clean shaven face then for the month of Movember they grew and groomed a moustache which was shaven off by Charlie Gaughan, from Trafford Road Barbers, on Sunday afternoon.

Landlady Jacqueline Woodhouse, Helen Gaughan, manager at the Cancer Research shop on London Road and Charlie judged their efforts with prizes up for grabs for length, style and comedy value.

Justin Partington, assistant manager at the Drum and Monkey, said "We decided to organise it a few months ago because we wanted to try to get different parts of the local community working together to raise money for a good cause. It was a bit last minute and we've learned a lot for when we do it next year, which we most certainly will.

"We realise that it should have been for a prostate cancer charity but so many people, who come into the pub and the barbers etc, have had their lives unfortunately touched by all sorts of cancer so we decided to do a general rather than male-specific event. It all started as a chat among Charlie, Helen, Jon Henshall and myself and it went from there.

"We had a brilliant afternoon raising £1,000 and getting rid of my damned moustache was a huge highlight for me!"

Several men had their moustaches shaved on the day and Simon Partington also had his head shaved which raised £250 for charity.

Justin added "We would like to thank everyone for coming down to support us and helpiing us raise the £1,000 and the companies who kindly donated prizes."

Photo: (l-r) Charles Gaughan, Justin Partington, Phil Clarke, Ashley Woodhouse, Jaqueline Woodhouse, Simon Pickering and Helen Gaughan.