A father has had his hair chopped off in a charity double whammy to raise cash for a hospital which helped save his daughter’s life.

Ross Elderfield, who lives in Minster, Sheppey, and works as a prison officer, decided to shave his head in a bid to help drum up £2,000 so he can enter the 2020 London Marathon in April.

Mr Elderfield is raising the cash for Great Ormond Street Hospital after staff treated his daughter, Ella, who is now 13, for a chronic bleeding condition six years ago.

The stunt was held at Sheerness East Working Men’s Club in Queenborough Road, Halfway, on Sunday.

Mr Elderfield, who is also the manager for Sheerness East Youth Girls Team, said: “My family were quite pleased about my decision to get it cut because they were saying for a while to get it done.

“This is our way of giving back. For me it’s a case that we could’ve lost Ella and the treatment she had was probably life-saving and I want to thank them for that. If your children ever get ill, they do anything they can for you up there – it’s the best place you can go.”

The hair was donated to the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children suffering from the side effects of cancer treatment. So far, his fundraising page has got £595 with another £275 raised at the head shave, which involved mum Jackie and son Jack. He has also been sponsored by colleagues and inmates at the prison.

The 40-year-old is also taking on the challenge in memory of his best friend Barry Bodiam.

He is aiming to commit to a different challenge each year until he turns 50. At the moment I’m in a routine where I’m starting up again with longer runs and adding a mile on each week,” he said.

“I’d like to do a bus pull. It’s the other end of the scale and it would take a lot of building up but it’s something I’ve thought about.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/r-elderfield to donate.

Read more: All the latest news from the Isle of Sheppey