TWO National Lottery players who scooped millions in jackpot wins have been splashing the cash.
Big-hearted hairdressers Richard Davies and Geraldine Bradley won a total of £4.5million in separate wins but are now putting some of that money to help the homeless.
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Richard and his wife Faye won £1m in 2018 while Geraldine and her husband Chris picked up £3.5m for their National Lottery win in 2006.
The two winners, who are experts with a pair of scissors, have been snipping away at a homeless centre in Cardiff to relaunch Haircuts4Homeless.
The service had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic but is now being relaunched.
Richard and Geraldine lent a hand at The Huggard Centre, Wales’ leading centre for people who are homeless and sleeping rough.
Working alongside Haircuts4Homeless’ founder, Stewart Roberts MBE, and with support from the dedicated team at The Huggard Centre, The National Lottery millionaires got snipping, determined to help make a small difference using their hairdressing skills.
While the expert hairdressing duo coiffed and trimmed their partners were on hand with mirrors for the key reveal.
Thanks to their selfless efforts more than 20 of The Huggard Centre clients were able to get some respite from everyday challenges of life on the streets and a neat new trim.
Geraldine said: “We have all been humbled by the work of The Huggard Centre and Haircuts4Homeless, and the team’s ability to provide support and small positive moments for those experiencing homelessness in Cardiff.
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“We know we haven’t solved anyone’s problem today, but we really hope that each recipient of our haircuts today will know that we cared.”
Richard, who had rescheduled his usual clients to ensure he could come along to offer his services at The Huggard Centre, was in complete agreement.
He said: “If any hairdressers in Wales are thinking, is this for me, the answer we would give is absolutely yes.
“Our Huggard clients were able to enjoy that moment of calm that comes from having a haircut and the look on some of our guests’ faces when they saw their new haircut, and the extra spring in their step as they walked away, will stay with me for a very long time.”
Haircuts4Homeless was established by Stewart Roberts MBE, in 2014 and since then has opened more than 70 projects across the UK and Ireland, recruited 600 volunteers and given over 50,000 free haircuts.
Stewart said: “It’s really important for us to make it clear that our service is back in Wales after a break caused by the pandemic.
“Coming to The Huggard Centre today has been a brilliant way to relaunch our service and we are looking forward to plenty more haircuts, and chairside chats, with clients in the coming months.”
Busy taking the client bookings for the pop-up Haircuts4Homeless salon was Ellen Bryant, The Huggard Intervention Centre’s Volunteering, Development and Community Engagement lead.
She said: “We’ve really enjoyed working alongside Haircuts4Homeless and The National Lottery winners and are very touched that they volunteered their time in this way.
“Clients were thrilled by their new hair styles and our staff rely on the support of volunteers in providing memorable experiences for clients.”
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £30m is generated each week for National Lottery-funded projects such as The Huggard’s new Development Hub and Haircuts4Homeless.
This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nations’ athletes win medals at last summer’s Commonwealth Games.
To date, over £47billion has been raised for National Lottery Good Causes, with more than 670,000 individual grants awarded.
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