Teaching assistant to donate his long locks to fund for new sporting equipment
A teaching assistant from a special educational needs school in Dudley is set to donate18 inches of his hair to fund new sporting equipment and sensory toys for pupils.
George Langman has been based at Old Park School in Brierley Hill for seven years, working with those aged 16 and above who have learning difficulties and physical disabilities.
The 34-year-old set himself the challenge of growing his locks around three and a half years ago, with the hopes of raising as much money as he can to fund new sporting equipment and toys that could be used by pupils at playtime.
Alongside his incredible fundraising effort, George will also be donating the locks along with a personal contribution of £100 to The Little Princess Trust, and will also be making a personal donation of £200 to the school.
George, who is from Wolverhampton, said: "I started growing it properly during lockdown when none of us could get haircuts. I kind of got inspired by other people raising money from donating their hair and I thought there's got to be something bigger I can do.
"It's a wonderful school but like other schools, it's always 'I wish we had this' and that's when the penny dropped of what I was going to raise money for.
"I thought I'd love to do something nice for them to be able to come into work and see the students happy, whether that be in playtime or lessons, using resources that have been paid for and say 'we did that, we did a wonderful thing for these kids'.
"Playtime is important for these kids, it's where these memories are made and as much as I love the education side of things, it's the fun stuff that the kids take away – that is why I wanted to put more smiles on their faces.
"Old Park is a wonderful school, it's phenomenal and there's a hell of a lot of people there who do an incredible job everyday."
George set up the fundraiser around a week ago with the hopes of raising £500 and has already more than doubled his target.
He will make the chop in July, before splitting the final total raised between each of the different age groups in the school who will each vote on what they would like to buy with the money.
He added: "It's incredible, I'm stunned. I set the target at £500 because I've never done a campaign like this before so I didn't know what was too ambitious or not ambitious enough – it just helps more kids doesn't it and gives them more options for recreational activities.
"The Little Princess Trust are a wonderful cause and I know there's lot of people out there who do fundraising for them but they have people to pay, they have wigs to make and it doesn't come for free so I wanted to give them a token donation from the heart.
"I'm really excited, it's just hair for me, I'll be fine without it. The way I see it, there's going to be a child out there somewhere who is going to benefit when they get my hair – I'll have less hair to wash in the morning and that's it."
To donate to support George in his fundraising effort, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/oldparkplayground
