A cancer patient's chemotherapy treatment triggered a fundraising campaign at his local pub.

Losing your hair is invariably a reaction to chemotherapy, but Paul Lovelock, 48, who boasted a luxuriant growth of shoulder-length dark hair, said he was less than impressed with a "half-and-half look" as strands of his hair began to fall out as a side-effect of the treatment.

And it did nothing for his image at Didcot's Crown pub in Queensway - so he decided to have it shaved off in aid of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. But the lorry driver did not realise how popular he was, and fellow customers spontaneously agreed to join in. Landlord Martin Woodall had one of the close shaves, although his partner, pub manageress Lynn Atherton, chipped in £100 not to have her hair cut.

Other customers also paid to avoid going under the clippers of hairdresser Elaine McConnell during a marathon cut in the bar. One regular raised £200 from a sponsored run, taking the pub's total to £1,000 in less than three weeks. Mr Lovelock presented a cheque to ICRF's Didcot charity shop manager Eve Wardle. Mr Lovelock, of Sinodun Road, was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in the oesophagus and is mid-way through chemotherapy treatment at the ICRF's medical oncology unit at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford.

But it does not stop him dropping in for a pint at the Crown once a week.

"I did not realise I had so many friends until I found they were willing to lose their own hair to keep me company," he said.

Story date: Thursday 04 November

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