HAIRDRESSER Julie Bishop lost a grandmother to breast cancer, helped her best friend beat it and has seen dozens of clients and their loved ones battle it too.

Now she is joining the fight to cut it out of people’s lives altogether, by taking part in the Pink Ribbonwalk.

Mrs Bishop, 52, from Chinnor, owns a hairdressing salon and on Saturday, May 11, will join hundreds of women at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock.

Participants choose either a 10- or 20-mile course through the park and surrounding villages, raising money for the charity Breast Cancer Care.

Mrs Bishop said: “This will be my first Ribbonwalk and I am really looking forward to joining my six friends in raising as much as we can for Breast Cancer Care, which helps support so many breast cancer sufferers and their families.”

Mrs Bishop’s grandmother, Doris Bainbridge, died 15 years ago from breast cancer at the age of 84.

Mrs Bishop said: “She was like a second mummy to me and it was terrible to lose her.

“My best friend Liz Laine, who I went to school with, was also diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago and it was awful to see her go through it all.

“I went along with her for some of her chemo, I cuddled her and listened and just tried to support her, and thankfully she came through it.

“But over the years, through the salon, I have met so many ladies who have experienced it themselves or lost loved ones to breast cancer. It affects so many.”

Mrs Bishop’s Buckinghamshire salon offers a special wig service for women who have lost their hair through cancer.

She said: “To many women, losing their hair is such a blow to their confidence. But it is a privilege to be able to help them in this small way.”

Mrs Bishop and her friends are walking the 10-mile route and hope to raise hundreds of pounds as they go.

Currently ‘in training’ with her labradoodle Sidney, she added, “All our customers are being very generous and I think we will have a real team spirit, with lots of chat and laughter.

“A few years back, Liz and I did the 26-mile Moonwalk through London and just thinking of it now still gives me goose pimples on my arms.

“There was an amazing sense of us all doing something really special and I think that will also be the case in the Ribbonwalk too.”

Registration costs £30, with walkers required to raise a minimum of £175 sponsorship. The event is followed by a village fete-style celebration which includes a medal, free barbecue, massage and entertainment.

  • Register to take part at pinkribbonwalk.org.uk or call 0870 145 0101. For more information on Breast Cancer Care free services go to breastcancercare.org.uk