A Maldon woman shaved her head for a cancer charity last Saturday to mark the tenth year of her father and sister's passing.

Alison Hughes, 51, from Maldon, launched a fundraiser as part of the ‘Brave the Shave’ challenge which involves going bald for charity.

She had hoped to raise £300 for the charity, but quickly surpassed that goal.

Alison said: “I put down three hundred thinking I wasn’t going to get anything near it, but I reached it quite quickly.

“I then reset the goal to about £500 to see if we could do it."

Alison upped the goal to £500 and has now raised over £600, double the amount she had originally hoped.

“I also took part in the 6th anniversary fancy dress parkrun beforehand as I do it every week or most weeks and regularly volunteer for.

“Maldon is my home and I chose the promenade as I wanted to do it somewhere I could maximise the number of sponsors, and the organisers agreed.”

Alison’s dad had suffered from prostate cancer and sadly passed away in 2010, followed by her sister who passed nine years ago from cancer.

She added: “My sister and I had a falling out before she died and hadn’t spoken for a number of years.

“We had reconnected, but I only found out after it happened.

“My dad had prostate cancer for a couple of years, and one weekend I was told to get up to Yorkshire as he wasn’t expected to last the weekend.

“He miraculously survived but then passed the year after.

“He’d had support from Macmillan nurses, and I know they treated him very well.

“I wanted to do something to mark the 10 years and I know MacMillan aren’t funded by the government; they are always looking for more money as they rely on private donations.

“I was sitting at home on the tenth anniversary wondering what to do when I heard about ‘Brave the Shave’ on the radio and I thought ‘Ah’!

“Some have unfortunately lost their battle, some have won the battle, and others are still battling.

“For those of you who are still battling, keep fighting, you’re all amazing and beautiful people.”

Since 2015, brave shavers have raised over £22.7 million, enough to fund 140 Macmillan nurses for three years.

Find out more about the campaign at: https://bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/