Head-shave in the Blue Angel Bar, Cork Opera House, for Irish Cancer Society.


A few weeks ago I sat down for a chat with Jamie and Amy at Cork Opera House and Margaret from the Irish Cancer Society - and we rolled out a few ideas for a fundraiser.
'The King and I' was coming to the Cork Opera House (whose original actor Yul Brenner was gloriously bald) and so the unfortunate connection with baldness being a side-effect of cancer came up. The idea was that volunteers would engage in a head-shave to raise funds and get a walk-on part in the King and I as a treat in return.
Where I came in, was putting it out on the airwaves of RedFM, along with my colleagues. Happily we got quite a few volunteers through our appeals - and on the day of the head-shave last Tuesday we had gathered 12 volunteers in total.
Joe Speare, the actor who will take the lead in 'The King and I' when it opens next Wednesday even came to Cork for the day to encourage those taking part.
Here he is below in all his glory...

He cuts quite a dashing figure, I'm sure you'll agree!
Among the RedFM listeners participating were brothers Aaron and Karl Durnin. Here below is the 'before' shot...


...but soon those lovely heads of hair were gone.... with Joe even fancying himself as a barber for the day!


Below are two chefs from the Radisson SAS Hotel, James Rendell and Graham Murphy, smiling bravely before their ordeal!

And the after shot.......


Husband and wife team Bart and Majella Spang from Mallow, also RedFM listeners, went for the challenge together. Bart's grandfather survived cancer at one stage, while Majella's father is also a cancer survivor. Hence, the cause is very close to their hearts. None-the-less, we were all very impressed with their generosity in undertaking this challenge - especially Majella, the only woman to volunteer. Here they are just before...


During.....
And after.....!!

Below on the left is cancer survivor Thomas Griffin, from Kerry. Last time he lost his hair it was through cancer treatment so it was a poignant moment for him - and a very brave one.

Others taking part were James Frahill, Thomas Griffin, Paul Healy, Finbarr Hegarty, Barrie O'Mahony and Martin Pinfield. Well done them all! Of course it wouldn't have been possible without the expertise of The Baldy Barber in Blackpool and Franco Barbeari Turkish Barbers on MacCurtain Street - so a big thanks is due to them for giving up their time.



And then of course there was the girl whose locks remained intact.... yes, it's true - I'm not brave enough to go under the shears... but was there to supervise and applaud the endeavours of the others!