A CHARITY stalwart is spreading awareness of breast cancer after dyeing his hair bright pink and is on target to total £300,000 in his fundraising.

Chris Rose is using his pink locks for breast cancer awareness month, when thousands of people support the national ‘wear it pink’ campaign to support everyone affected by the disease.

The 59-year-old, who works for the gas distribution company SGN in Horsham, dyed his hair pink two years ago for the awareness campaign. He wanted to help after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.

Chris decided to step it up for 2016 by having his locks coloured professionally. The aim was to capture a longer lasting look which would prompt more donations and spark more conversations about breast cancer awareness.

He came up with the idea after spearheading years of fund-raising for the JPK Project, which is building a supported living centre in Eastbourne for people with a learning disability, including

his daughter, Katy.

In total, he is just £1,000 away from raising a whopping £300,000 for charity.

Chris, who lives in Eastbourne, said: “I approached Hairs & Graces in Eastbourne to help me, and it took two hours to complete. They were very nervous, as it’s not every day they dye a bloke’s hair pink. They did a brilliant job, they even got into the spirit of the occasion by holding a cake sale on the day.”

Donations were even pledged by strangers as Chris sat in the hairdressers, taking the total raised so far from all contributions to £2,400.

Chris is also cheering on colleagues Susie Collins and Becky De Luca – who work at SGN’s Burgess Hill depot – who are hard at work training for December’s Ultra White Collar Boxing Match 2016 in Brighton in aid of Cancer Research UK.   

“As I sat there in the chair, watching my hair change, I thought it was fantastic. It stung a bit however when I looked at it, I thought it was great,” said Chris.

“I had a meeting with council officials the next day as part of my job, and I got a couple of funny looks when I went in, but I also picked up a £10 donation. I took my mum out the other day and again I saw people were looking at me but it starts conversations. You tell people what it’s for and people are incredibly supportive.”