A TAVISTOCK woman has made the selfless act of having her long locks cut off in aid of charity.

Last Thursday (October 30) at the Hair Lounge in Tavistock, Ilona Richardson, 24, had 14ins of her hair cut off in order to benefit The Little Princess Trust, a children's cancer charity with a mission to supply real-hair wigs to children suffering with cancer, and children with other conditions which also result in hair loss, the most common being alopecia.

Ilona, who runs Tavistock Children's Theatre TC2 and Liskeard Stage Kids with her mother Steph Reese and her husband James Richardson, said: 'I had a friend who had alopecia and she said how she would have loved a real hair wig and it got me thinking, so I researched how I could help.

'I have always been attached to my hair and to lose it through alopecia would be awful so I decided to donate my hair to charity for someone to benefit and be able to have a real hair wig.'

She chose to donate to The Little Princess Trust as she knows that the charity helps all children and even those local to the area.

The charity only asks for hair donations but Ilona went that one step further and managed to raise around £350, which will all go to the trust. It costs the charity £350 to produce a wig in order to give to a child.

• For more information on The Little Princess Trust visit http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk">www.littleprincesses.org.uk