Huge congratulations to Helen Bailey, from Westfield, who managed to smash her fundraising target by more than £1,400 for Macmillan in tribute to her friend, Maria.

Helen ‘Braved the Shave’ for the charity, and with a target of £2,000, she managed to raise £3,480.74, with donations still coming in.

During half-term, on Tuesday, 30th October, Helen held an event at Timsbury’s Conygre Hall, which not only saw her lose her blonde hair, but was supported with

refreshments by CakeCakeCake, a raffle, prizes and face painting.

Helen says: “I want to say massive thanks to Sue and Derek Clark at the Waldegrave Arms, Chewton Mendip, for running a quiz night and donating £500 to my event.

“Also to St John the Baptist Church, Midsomer Norton for hosting a coffee morning and donating £60.

“Thank you to Katie from A Cut Above stylists in Westfield for shaving my head and to all the girls who work there for raising over £25 in donations.

“I want to thank Leanne at Dragonfly Beauty for coming along to do face painting at the event; to Sam at CakeCakeCake for donating three amazing cakes to sell.

“I also want to thank Glyn at Rocky’s Magic Parties for giving up time to come and make novelty balloons for the children and playing background music.

“I want to thank Geoff at Midsomer Norton Rugby Club for raising £77 and Gina at Pole Krazee for selling raffle tickets at her classes. I also want to thank everyone who donated raffle prizes.

“I’m overwhelmed by all the support people have shown over the last few months. Especially my husband, children and parents. Massive thanks to everyone who helped out selling raffle tickets and refreshments.

“I really couldn’t have planned such a successful event without my family and friends behind me. Donations are still coming in as people can see I’ve done it, I actually went through with it!”