Bearded hero braves painful charity waxing

Photo: Darren Robinson

Lee Chatterley about to have his beard shaved and waxed.

HE almost "stubbled" at the last hurdle and came within a "whisker" of quitting, but brave bearded Lee Chatterley was determined to take his hair-raising challenge on the chin for a very special cause indeed.

Lee (27) from Garden Suburbs, vowed to give his beloved beard the chop to raise money for stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands in honour of the beautiful baby boy, Charlie, he and wife, Hannah, lost almost four years ago.

On bank holiday Monday over 100 family and friends gathered at The Pavillion, in Green Lane, to watch the wax and shave spectacle, not to mention the hundreds on Facebook as it was live streamed across social media.

Lee, a support worker and dad to two-year-old Poppy, said: "The turnout was amazing, but the waxing was the most painful thing ever.

"I knew it would be bad, but nothing compared to how it felt. I think I managed six stripes, but it got so sore and I was actually bleeding so I had to stop.

"The thing is now where it was waxed, it's not growing back yet but where it was shaved is so I keep having to shave that off. I can't even start growing it back yet. I'm gutted."

But on the bright side Lee's incredible efforts and those of the people who supported him have raised over £2,000 for Sands which supports parents going through the tragedy and heartbreak of losing their babies.

"It's incredible what we achieved," said Lee.

"I only wanted to raise £100 to start with.

"It was an absolutely cracking turnout on the day and I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone There's not really any stand-out name as everyone was fantastic, but I would like to mention my colleague, Wendy Fallas, who rang round every company going to get donations.

"The money raised will go towards cold cots and memory boxes for parents going through what we went through.

"Inside the memory boxes are ink pads so you can have the footprints and handprints of your baby to treasure forever and you also get photographs taken by a professional photographer.

"These things mean such a lot. It is a massive help to us and to other parents. It is estimated that there are 14 families a day in the UK whose babies are stillborn."

As well as raising hundreds through sponsorship, £700 was raised on the day through raffles and donations including hampers from the Co-op and Costa.

Chadderton Tesco, Tesco Extra, in Hudderfield Road, and Tesco in Altrincham donated Playstation and Xbox games, a food processor, scooter and wine to the cause and a friend's handmade beard cake raised £35.

• Check out more pictures of Lee Chatterley on our picture sales page.