IT was a winning partnership but after 30 years Noel Edmonds and his trademark beard have parted all in the name of charity.

The TV celebrity took the brave step to raise money for communities hit hard by the foot and mouth crisis and from his home town of Hatherleigh on Friday, this momentous occasion was broadcast live on GMTV.

As Hatherleigh hairdresser Jo Barrett sharpened her tools, local schoolchildren and residents including town crier Ros Chard and mayor Denis Bater gathered in Swanners gift shop to see the deed done.

Noel, who offered to have his whiskers shaved if a minimum of £6,000 was raised for the Green Wellie Appeal, said he was nervous, not least because Jo had not shaved a beard since her college days.

When he saw his clean-shaven new look for the first time he joked: 'It's a picture of a baby's bottom.

'It is a shock but it is in a good cause — I wanted to show my support for the farmers and the whole rural economy. We have a big crisis here in the West Country and the repercussions of foot and mouth are going to be with us for a long time.'

When asked if he intended to remain whisker-free, he said: 'The beard is staying off as a symbol of my hatred of MAFF.'

He criticised the tactics used by MAFF as 'ridiculously heavy-handed in a civilised society' and said animals were starving in fields because of 'bureaucracy and red tape'.

The celebrity has been involved in a drive to acquire more food stocks following fears that the county's farm animals could be hit by a food shortage.

Together with the RSPCA he is appealing to farmers who have supplies of haylage, sileage, hay and straw to come forward. He is also asking for special access rights to tons of bagged food currently standing unused on farms which have had contact with the disease.

Noel, who has an 850-acre estate of farmland and woodland at Jacobstowe, said there was a huge community spirit in Hatherleigh and that was why the crisis was being felt so badly there.

'There is no attitude in Hatherleigh that it is someone else's problem,' he said.

'I have never known a community that fund-raises so much or that pulls together when there is a crisis. There is no doubt about it — it is just good old down to earth caring.'

Despite moving to the area 12 years ago, the former Radio One DJ and host of Swap Shop and Noel Edmonds' House Party said his family had never been made to feel outsiders.

'Hatherleigh is the most generous place you can mention and as a place to live and bring up the family it is heaven.'

Mr Bater said Noel had always been noted for his fundraising and not long after he came to the town he took part in the annual Hatherleigh Walruses Charity Dip in the River Lew on New Year's Eve dressed as a ballerina.

'Hatherleigh is known for its generosity and Noel is no exception — he has joined in and is one of the community.'

Noel's daughter Charlotte, 18, said she was proud of her dad for finally parting with his trademark beard.

'I never thought he would do it — I am a bit traumatised by it and I think the whole family will be,' she said.

'We have all been told we have the Edmonds lips but I have never seen them before.'