Hamilton Advertiser

Louise shaves head to raise hospice funds

Teacher‘s tribute to her late mother

- Leona Greenan

A Hamilton woman has raised over £3000 for South Lanarkshir­e’s hospice — with huge support from pupils at the school where she teaches.

Deputy head Louise Bradley, who works at East Kibride’s St Leonard’s Primary, kicked off her fantastic fundraisin­g effort by choosing to shave her head earlier this year, in memory of her mother, who passed away from breast cancer in 1995.

Louise and her pupils have also been working hard throughout 2017 to fundraise for Kilbryde Hospice.

She explained: “Mum was looked after by another local hospice, because it was the hospice that most people went to at the time, and their care was incredible.

“When Kilbryde Hospice was built, it was a fantastic achievemen­t and a great asset to East Kilbride. I chose to support it because all hospices do incredible work and it didn’t matter to me that my mum had passed in a different hospice at all, I just wanted to show support for my local one.”

Louise chose to shave her head not only to raise but to raise awareness.

She spoke with her pupils about why some people are bald, so that they wouldn’t judge people by how they looked, and would be considerat­e of the fact that the person might be battling an illness too.

Her head teacher came up with the idea of a non-uniform day, which the children all took part in to help the fundraisin­g effort.

After setting herself a £500 target, Louise was amazed when the total came to over £3000.

She added: “I really can’t thank my friends, family and the staff and pupils enough for their extremely generous support. The support I received after returning to work bald was amazing!”

A spokeswoma­n for Kilbryde Hospice said: “Well done to Louise and the pupils at St Leonard’s Primary School — what an achievemen­t!”

Kilbryde Hospice provides care and support to people in Lanarkshir­e with lifelimiti­ng illnesses, and extends this support to their carers and loved ones too. For further informatio­n, please contact Kilbryde Hospice on 01355 202020 or info@ kilbrydeho­spice.org.uk. funds,

 ??  ?? Close shave Louise Bradley of Hamilton
Close shave Louise Bradley of Hamilton

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