A senior support worker at Woodbridge Lodge care home has raised £500 for St Elizabeth Hospice

A senior support worker at Woodbridge Lodge care home has raised £500 for St Elizabeth Hospice, in Ipswich, by having her head shaved. Lauren Broom, 26, of Tower Mill Road, Ipswich, is used to an audience as a regular performer with the Orchard Players, based in Capel St Mary, Suffolk.  

So she was comfortable with the large gathering of residents and staff who watched her lose her shoulder length locks in the garden of the Kingsley Healthcare home in Burkitt Road, Woodbridge. Kingsley service quality manager Lisa Brown cut her hair with the help of Valerie Pask, whose mother is a resident at the home. Miss Broom, a carer for eight years who has worked at Woodbridge Lodge for seven months, said she had been inspired to do the sponsored event by her recent visit to the hospice in Foxhall Road with a colleague to undertake training for end of life care.  

She said: "I was so impressed by how compassionate they are and by the facilities they offer. They reach out to the whole family, including children, through their wonderful bereavement services." She admitted to feeling a little nervous about losing her hair but joked that it was "easier than jumping out of an aeroplane". "I would like to thank all the people who have generously sponsored me, including staff, family and friends," she said.   She said her new look would be quite suitable for her next stage role as a member of Fagin's street gang in Oliver.

Fiona Ginn, the hospice's community fundraiser, watched in admiration in the Friday afternoon sunshine and said: "I think this is amazing. "It means a lot to us that people are willing to support us in so many ways. We need £10.5m a year to keep the hospice running and only receive 20pc of that from the NHS."  

Residents celebrated the fund-raising triumph after the event with an afternoon cream tea in the sunshine.