National Lottery millionaire hairdressers spent a productive morning in Cardiff helping re-launch the Haircuts4Homeless (H4H) service into Wales after it was put on hold due to the pandemic.
The volunteer hairdressers who, alongside being pros with a pair of scissors, have each had a big win on The National Lottery, were put to work at The Huggard Centre, Wales’s leading centre for people who are homeless and sleeping rough.
Working alongside Haircuts4Homeless’ Founder, Stewart Roberts MBE, and with support from the dedicated team at The Huggard Centre, The National Lottery millionaires got snipping, determined to help make a small difference in Wales by using their hairdressing skills.
And as the hairdressing team coiffed and trimmed, laughed and chatted, their partners were on hand with mirrors for the all-important reveal ensuring that more than 20 of The Huggard Centre clients enjoyed a moment’s respite from the daily challenges of life on the streets.
Busy with the scissors were National Lottery millionaire, and full-time hairdresser, Richard Davies who won £1M in 2018 with wife Faye, alongside Geraldine Bradey, who with husband Chris, continued to run her hair salon following the family’s £3.5M National Lottery win in 2006. Geraldine said: “We have all been humbled by the work of The Huggard Centre and Haircuts4Homeless, and the team’s ability to provide support and small positive moments for those experiencing homelessness in Cardiff. We know we haven’t solved anyone’s problem today, but we really hope that each recipient of our haircuts today will know that we cared.”
In full agreement was National Lottery millionaire Richard Davies, who had rescheduled his usual clients to ensure he could come along to offer his services at The Huggard Centre. He said: “If any hairdressers or barbers in Wales are thinking they would like to get involved with work like this, then I would say definitely get in touch with Haircuts4Homeless. Our Huggard clients were able to enjoy that moment of calm that comes from having a haircut and the look on some of our guests’ faces when they saw their new haircut, and the extra spring in this step as they walked away, will stay with me for a very long time.”
Haircuts4Homeless was established by Stewart Roberts MBE, in 2014 and since then has opened more than 70 projects across the UK and Ireland, recruited 600 volunteers and given over 50,000 free haircuts. Stewart said: “It’s really important for us to make it clear that our service is back in Wales after a break caused by the pandemic. Coming to The Huggard Centre today has been a brilliant way to relaunch our service and we are looking forward to plenty more haircuts, and chairside chats, with clients in the coming months.”
Busy taking the client bookings for the pop-up Haircuts4Homeless salon was Ellen Bryant, The Huggard Intervention Centre’s Volunteering, Development and Community Engagement lead. She said: “We’ve really enjoyed working alongside Haircuts4Homeless and The National Lottery winners and are very touched that they volunteered their time in this way. Clients were thrilled by their new hairstyles and our staff rely on the support of volunteers in providing memorable experiences for clients.”
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £30M is generated each week for National Lottery-funded projects such as The Huggard’s new Development Hub and Haircuts4Homeless. This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nation’s athletes win medals at last summer’s Commonwealth Games. To date, over £47BN has been raised for National Lottery Good Causes, with more than 670,000 individual grants awarded.
If you'd like to get involved with Haircuts4Homeless, then why not check out their Ambassador Programme? It's a great way for barbers throughout the UK to support the charity.
