Winners

Short back and smiles as winners provide haircuts for the homeless

A group of tonsorially talented National Lottery winners have put their scissors and clippers to good use, providing haircuts for homeless people in Cardiff.

The team of winners joined forces to help relaunch Haircuts4Homeless in Wales, a service put on hold during the pandemic. During a visit to The Huggard Centre, Wales' leading centre for people who are homeless and sleeping rough, the National Lottery coiffeurs cut the hair of more than 20 people, offering them a moment's respite from the challenges of life on the streets.

Joining Haircuts4Homeless’ founder, Stewart Roberts MBE, at the Cardiff styling session were National Lottery millionaire and full-time hairdresser Richard Davies and his wife Faye. They were joined by Geraldine Bradley, who with her husband Chris, continued to run her hair salon following a £3.5Million 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 each recipient of our haircuts will know we cared.”

Richard Davies, who rescheduled his usual clients to ensure he could come to the Haircuts4Homeless event at The Huggard Centre, said, “If any hairdressers in Wales are thinking, is this for me, the answer we would give is absolutely yes! 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 their step as they walked away, will stay with me for a very long time.”

Haircuts4Homeless, a project supported by The National Lottery, was established by Stewart in 2014. Since then, it has recruited 600 volunteers and given more than 50,000 free haircuts in the UK and Ireland.

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 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.”

The Huggard Centre’s Ellen Bryant 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 hair styles and our staff rely on the support of volunteers in providing memorable experiences for clients."

26th April 2023

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,200 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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