Michael's fund-raiser is a cut above
A BUCKIE fund-raiser has been reaping the rewards after putting himself through a hair-raising experience.
Michael Parkes (39) underwent a rather unusual head shave, followed 24 hours later by shaving off his eyebrows, earlier this week to raise cash for the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) – a cause close to his heart being a former victim of the disease. So far, his efforts have collected in the region of £1100.
The public had the chance to have their say as to which type of head shave he subjected himself to.
Mr Parkes explained: "I gave folk the chance to choose between two options for what type of shave I did – either doing half my head or doing a Krusty the Clown look, shaving the middle part and leaving hair round the edge.
"The Krusty cut won so I did that and also vowed that if I reached £900 in 24 hours I'd do my eyebrows, too.The eyebrows were quite something to do, they started bleeding so I had to stop at one point. I did as much as I could.
"The day after I did the head shave I went out to do some shopping at Tesco and I got some pretty strange looks. It felt like I had a wind tunnel running through the top of my head. I've had skinheads before this was something different.
"Doing the head shave was the easy bit – going about your daily business after it for a week is the harder part!
"I'm delighted and humbled with the support I've had, the feedback has been very positive."
Mr Parkes's fund-raising was meant to form part of his build up to running the New York mararthon – one of the top events of its kind in the world – under the MRF banner but he has just received news that his dream will have to be put on hold, the event has been cancelled due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
"I'm disappointed, obviously, but not really surprised, to be honest," he continued.
"Hopefully I'll get my place deferred to next year but I'll just have to wait and see, so much could happen in the meantime.
"I had promised to go ahead with the head shave and eyebrow shave and I did as I'm a man of my word. I've a passion for this cause. Hopefully, I also helped keep people smiling with my antics, too!"
Mr Parkes added that if things go his way he will be able to revert to his original plan and run the two marathons he intended to do this year – Belfast, where his place has already been deferred, and New York – in 2021.
His training for the New York marathon has also seen a project by the Buckie Kindness Group, who have been delivering meals and care packages to those hit by the Covid-19 lockdown. As part of his training programme, Mr Parkes took selfies at 26 well-known points in Buckie and donated them to the groups coronavirus album project depicting life locally during the various phases of the lockdown.
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