Wigton schoolgirl donates hair to Little Princess Trust

Eight-year-old Olivia Peacock, from Wigton, cut 16 inches off her hair on Saturday.

She donated it to the Little Princess Trust.

The charity provides real hair wigs to children and young people who have lost their hair due to illness.

Olivia also raised more than £1,000 for the charity.

Her mum, Gemma Keeler, cut her hair at an event at Wigton Bowling Club on Saturday afternoon.

The event had a tombola, a raffle, a cake stall and a 'guess a bear's name' stall.

Some small businesses were also running stalls.

The main event was when Olivia got her hair cut after growing it for half her life.

Gemma said: "It has been a very long process. [Olivia] was over the moon.

"She had a couple of tears before getting her hair cut because obviously she’s becoming very attached to her hair after growing it for four years.

"She then calmed herself down and said that someone else was going to benefit from her hair. She can always grow hers back if she wants to."

Gemma added: "I'm very proud of her. I couldn't do it!"

Olivia smashed her initial target of raising £550 for the Little Princess Trust.

This is how much it costs the Little Princess Trust to make a wig for someone.

This means that Olivia has provided two extra wigs, alongside the one made of her own hair.

Gemma was somewhat relieved that Olivia's hair had finally been cut.

She said: "It takes two minutes to get a brush through her hair now, it’s great. Before it was 20 minutes on a good hair day!

"She’s loving it. She doesn’t mind it at all. She’s happy about it taking less time to brush."

Olivia had her first ever hair appointment yesterday as a treat for her efforts.

The Nelson Thomlinson School pupil was inspired to grow her hair four years ago after watching Children in Need.

She was upset at seeing children with cancer treatment losing their hair, so decided to do her bit to help.

You can still donate to Olivia's fundraiser at https://justgiving.com/fundraising/gemma-keeler.