A March man and Ely Hereward Rotary Club member hopes to raise £500 for charity by parting with his “pride and joy” in a sponsored beard shave.

Ely Standard: Ely Hereward Rotary Club member Mike Anthony, who lives in March, hopes to raise £500 for the Cambridge branch of the Samaritans charity by parting with his “pride and joy” in a sponsored beard shave. Picture: SUPPLIEDEly Hereward Rotary Club member Mike Anthony, who lives in March, hopes to raise £500 for the Cambridge branch of the Samaritans charity by parting with his “pride and joy” in a sponsored beard shave. Picture: SUPPLIED (Image: Archant)

With major fundraising events like Eel Day and Aquafest cancelled due to Covid-19, the club have been looking for new ways of fundraising during lockdown.

Club member Mike Anthony then came up with the idea of having his beard shaved off in aid of the Samaritans charity.

Having been living separately from his wife in Slovakia since March, with no prospect of meeting up again until at least July, Mike has “grown a luxuriant beard of which he is quite proud,” said club member Frank Connolly.

“His wife is not so keen, so Mike is proposing to part with it in a sponsored beard shave, with all proceeds going to charity and is hoping to raise at least £500 to part with his pride and joy.”

“Ely Hereward Rotary will keep everyone updated with the appeal via the local press, social media, and our club Facebook page,” added Mr Connolly.

“Look out for our announcement of the date and time fixed for Mike’s big shave which will be sometime in mid-July.

“If anyone would like to join the fundraiser with their own beard shave, head shave, or just a haircut – your support would be most welcome.”

Mike chose the Cambridge branch of Samaritans - one of the oldest and largest branches in the country – because it has been giving emotional support to local people for more than 50 years.

To deal with increased levels of demand due to Covid-19, Samaritans set up a dedicated phone number just for NHS staff.

In the past year (April 2019 to March 2020) Samaritans received 31,802 calls, 506 outbound calls, spent over 9,238 hours on the phone, sent 1,808 SMS messages, 1,664 e-mails, and had 160 visits to their office from people in distress.

There were also 41 new listening volunteers trained and, as of March 31, had a total of 179 volunteers (168 listeners and 11 support volunteers).

You can sponsor Mike here to sponsor Mike or visit the Samaritans website for more information about their work.