A STOURBRIDGE man will be braving the shave in memory of a late friend who died on Friday (August 21).

Ryan Cook is getting the clippers out to raise money for St Richard’s Hospice, after the charity looked after his friend – Dan Laight – in the weeks before his death.

The 26-year-old has organised to have his head and long beard shaved off at The Greyhound pub, in Norton Road, this Saturday (August 29) evening.

Ryan said: “A friend of ours died last Friday and for the last couple of weeks he was in St Richards and they made him a lot more comfortable and were really good to him. This is just my way of giving something back.

“I had seen stuff on the telly before about using a head shave as a way of raising money and I thought I would go for it. I am also shaving my beard off, which has been growing for a while now.

“I did originally want to raise about £150 but we have already gone beyond that. I then raised my target to £300 and have made that, so now I hope to get to about £450.”

His sister Rachel said a number of people will be at the pub on Saturday giving their support to Ryan’s fundraising event, being held in memory of the late 50-year-old.

“We are going to be in the pub from about 7pm with banners and buckets to try and raise as much money as we can,” she said.

“We plan to have the shave at about 8pm and it should be quite busy as a number of people have already said they would be coming down.

“Dan himself was also going to be there when Ryan first planned to do the shave, but he will now be doing it in his memory.”

To donate online to Ryan’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/ryan-cook7