Wow. I thought as it had been a few days since the funeral it was a good time to update the page. The eight hundred and fifty pounds donated through this site is, with gift aid, now £1067.18 which is astonishing. At the funeral I now we've collected at least another couple of hundred with more perhaps to come - updates as I get them. 

As for the hair, there's enough of it up top again to keep the wind off my scalp and in this weather, I'm relieved. 

Mike 09/03/2011

On Valentine's Day this year I lost my Father after a short illness. In his last days he was very fortunate to be cared for by the staff at St. Barnabas' Hospice Trust in Lincoln whose dedication and love made a very difficult time as comfortable as possible for both my Dad and his family. 

Dad's funeral will be on March 3rd. I believe what would truly honour his memory would be if I were to, in his words, "get a bloody haircut" to look smart on that day, in addition to standing up straight and taking my hands out of my pockets. 

Presently, my bum-length locks are not going anywhere so here's where you come in - I want a hundred quid in the Hospice's JustGiving account, then I'll shear my mop. This represents excellent value and will also save me a fortune in shampoo. 

So there you have it, donate or do not. But do!

 

Thankyou,

Mike

 

*UPDATE6* - It's Off. Almost exactly a week later, we're on £785 in donations and when you factor the gift aid in, that's just shy of a grand for the hospice, ten times what I initially thought could be achieved. another couple of donations and we're there!

I'm overwhelmed by the support and it has given great cheer to the whole family. Freshly posted are some shots of the hair, I have one of my shorn noggin as well but I'm getting an error page whe I try to upload it so I'll keep plugging away until that one goes up too. 

I will post some more updates next weekend if not before. By then we'll have hd Dad's funeral and we hope to raise some more on the day, which I will let everyone know about in terms of the total. 

For now though, once again, thank you all so much!

 

*UPDATE 5* - That's the 400 barrier broken in less than a day! The final target is £500. Feel free to take us as far beyond 500 as you like, though - and thanks again for all the kndness so far. We'll be keeping this going until the end of March if needs be.

*Update 4* So, targets then - I set 'em up, you knock 'em down.... and while this is excellent it would be daft to keep doing it forever. I started this page having a hunch I could do a hundred quid by next weekend... so I really can't complain if it all stops here. If we charge on to £400 today I don't think it would be unrealistic to round it out nicely with a new and final target total of £500 but if I do get as far as that, I'll leave it there no matter how much comes in (lots please). I've been incrementing the targets, with much goodwill, as I'm so keen to help this brilliant, vital charity. People can donate till the end of March but I don't want to take the mick over targets! 

But to be very clear: The original target hs been reached, the hair will be cut!

 

*update 3* It's one in the morning, I'm tired, and we're £300 to the good. I'm not going to say much at this point, because it will come out as nonsense, but what the hell - 100% is negotiable and I'm going to say let's call it £400 now, as we've only been going for eleven hours... onwards, upwards and THANKYOU!

I'll be saying more about why this is so important in the near future... but for now this has been an incredible day and quite apart from what it means to me, someone's going to get the love and care that will make the worst day bearable, thanks to you. 

 

*update 2* Bloody hell, that was quick! It's coming off, you wonderful, horrible people. I've now raised the target to £300 seeing as we did half that in an afternoon. 

Please share the links on twitter, facebook etc and see if we can do that much :)

(And to think I complain at the cost of my wife's haircuts!)

 

*Update* Having made half the total in a very short space of time (Thanks!) I'll be upping it by fifty quid once we hit the total and again thereafter every time we make the new target. I will, of course, be getting my clippers out once the original target is reached. And then probably starting a new fund page for a hat to keep my head warm!