A grandmother from Broughton Gifford has had all her hair shaved off to raise money for charity, following the death of her mother and friends.

Lesley Holdway went under the clippers to have her 20 inch locks cut off for Dorothy House, which cared for her mother before she died.

Mrs Holdway’s mother died aged 68 in 2002 after battling cancer four times. Her husband Ron has also had prostate cancer and she lost a close friend to lung cancer five years ago.

Mrs Holdway said: “Everyone knows someone who has been affected by it.”

The retired 54-year-old is also the Broughton Gifford WI president and decided on the idea as she wanted to do something “daring” and “dramatic”.

She said: “I can’t jump out of an aeroplane because I’m scared of heights, so I thought this would be a good idea.”

A big crowd gathered at Mrs Holdway’s house to watch her hair get the chop, which took 15 minutes and received applause all round. So far a total of nearly £2,000 has been raised with donations still being given.

Mrs Holdway said: “It’s been absolutely incredible, people have been so generous.

“It looks very weird,” she joked, “I’m not sure I should be looking in the mirror very much.”

Daughter Katy added: “She’s the bravest mum in the world.”