Dedicated charity worker loses her locks to raise money for children's hospice

Miriam Payne, who lives in Whelley, has seen the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Derian House children’s hospice in Chorley, where she works.

She wanted to do something to help and set a target of raising £150 to pay for a nurse for a day.

And to raise the money, Miriam decided to ask people to sponsor her to shave off her hair.

The 45-year-old said: “I work at Derian House as the individual giving manager so I know how everything has been affected by the coronavirus and the fund-raising is down. I thought I would do something to support it.

“Like most of us in lockdown at the moment, I have been getting fed up of my hair, so I thought I would get rid of it.”

Miriam got advice from her hairdresser before going under the clippers live on Facebook to remove her bob.

And despite losing her locks, she was delighted with the result.

“I absolutely love it,” she said. “Initially I thought I would shave it off and it would grow back, but now I love it and might keep it like this.

“It’s so liberating having no hair, it’s unbelievable.

“I was fine shaving it and I’m just glad I don’t have a wonky head!”

Even better was that Miriam, who is married, easily beat her fund-raising target, collecting £1,050 for the hospice.

She said: “It is amazing. When I set out to do it I wanted to raise £150 which would sponsor a Derian House nurse for a day and I have raised enough to sponsor a nurse for a week. It’s exceeded my expectations.”

The money will make a massive difference for the hospice, where Miriam has worked for two years, and its patients.

She said: “It costs £4.8m this year to provide services there and we only get seven per cent in statutory funding, so the rest has to be raised. The fund-raising target is about £2.6m this year.

“All our events this year have been cancelled so we are trying to find a way to plug that gap. With all the businesses closed at the moment, corporate fund-raising isn’t at the top of the agenda, it’s trying to keep businesses afloat and employees in jobs. We understand that, but we have to find other ways to raise money.

“It’s such an amazing place to work. It has been strange working from home and not being in the hospice, because it’s the most incredible place to be every day.”

Donations to Miriam’s appeal for Derian House can still be made online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/miriam-payne1.

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