SHELLEY Fox is too young to remember the value of a pre-decimal bob, but her first haircut for several years could be worth £1,000 for the Tenovus Cancer Charity.

Her waist-length hair has been a distinctive feature of the 23-year-old insurance administrator since her childhood and teens when she won a string of local beauty titles including regatta princess, Snow Queen and carnival queen in her home town of Christchurch.

But the plight of her mother Linda, who lost her own hair after undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, inspired Shelley to have her locks lopped by some 16 inches.

Originally she planned to have her hair made into a wig for Linda, but instead had the haircut sponsored by family and friends to raise cash for the Tenovus Diamond Appeal, to extend and improve the cancer treatment wards at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where her mother is a patient.

Pledges had already topped £800 before the scissors started snipping at the Reds and Darren James salon in Highcliffe on Saturday and Shelley is hoping colleagues at the Portman Building Society in Bournemouth will push the sum into four figures.

She said afterwards: "I have only ever had my hair trimmed before. Some people have their heads shaved, but I couldn't face that.

"I don't think anyone is going to recognise me anymore. If I get used to having short hair, I might keep it like this - or I might just let it grow again."

Anyone who would like to sponsor Shelley or support the Diamond Appeal in any other way should contact Estelle Wilson at Tenovus on 07968 232593.

First published: September 1