Tyrrellspass sisters donate their lovely locks for charity

Aoibheann McGivney from Tyrrellspass is eight years old, and last year, around May, she decided to grow her hair in order to donate it to a charity that makes wigs.

A few months later, she asked her parents if she could raise money while doing so.

At the time her sister, Saoirse was three, and due her first hair cut, so the family decided to get her to do the charity cut with Aoibheann. As a result, Saoirse’s very first haircut is featured in the accompanying photos!

The sisters chose two charities to help out: one is Niamh’s Rocket to Russia, which is a project to raise funds for a Rochfortbridge mother who is fighting MS and is travelling to Russia next month. Aoibheann knows one of her daughters.

The other is Lir Preschool in Mullingar – a friend of the family has a child who was very ill and attends Lir, and Aoibheann wanted to support that child in some way and suggested donating some funds to the special needs preschool.

Aoibheann says she would have been pleased to raise €200 or €300, but at the time of writing (last week), the girls are at €1,000 and the total was looking likely to reach €1,300. The eventual total will be divided between the two charities equally.

The girls had their hair cut at The First Floor Hair and Beauty Studio in Mullingar, and their mother, Deirdre, thanked everyone there, and Vida in particular: “She was amazing with the girls,” said Deirdre.

Their father Gary and brother Eoghan went with them to get the hair cut.

“Poor Eoghan has been through this as much as the girls really!” said Deirdre.

The girls’ hair was 15.5 inches and 16 inches when cut. It needed to be a minimum 12 inches, and preferably 14, for the wigs so their achievement is fantastic, and their willingness and selflessness have been praised by everyone concerned.

If you would like to contribute to the fundraising efforts, visit gofundme.com/AoibheannSaoirsebigCut.