Filtermist Service & Installation Engineer Matt Thompson braved the shave last week to raise money in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society, in memory of his grandparents who were affected by the disease.
Telford based Filtermist Ltd held their 50th Anniversary Birthday Bash on Saturday 22nd June for employees and their families and the day concluded with Matt facing the barber on stage in front of his friends and colleagues, shaving off his chest length beard to raise money.
Matt started growing his beard around Halloween of 2017. “I don't know why, I just did. There were countless times when I thought about shaving it off, countless times people told me to. But I fought on, spured on by how it made me feel. It demanded respect, it demanded fist bumps off complete strangers, it became the beard people spoke about, I was the beard and the beard was me”, Matt said.
However, when Matt lost both of his Grandparents to Dementia he wanted to do something to support the cause.
Matt said: “Until the day we find a cure, we need to create a society where those affected by dementia are supported and accepted; and able to live in their community without fear or prejudice.”
Shifnal based barber Mark Egerton, owner of Egerton’s Barbers volunteered his time on the day to perform the shave and he put on a real show for the crowds, taking Matt’s beard through various styles before removing it completely!
Commenting on the organisation of the day Matt said: “What an amazing day, I absolutely loved it and had a great time. Thank you so much for all your hard work for this I understand it was very difficult at times especially finding a barber and you pulled it out the bag - Mark was great and looked fantastic! We managed to raise £178 on the day which is brilliant - far better than I thought and with the website donations we have raised around £594 so far.”
For more information on how you can donate visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/matthew-thompson91
A big thank you goes out to Mark from Egertons Barbers for giving his time up on the day. Find out more about Mark here: http://www.egertonsbarbers.co.uk/