The president of an Aberdeenshire rotary club has taken it on the chin with a hair-raising charity makeover designed to generate cash for local children.
Peter Vermeulen, president of the Aboyne and Upper Deeside Rotary Club, has been growing an impressive beard since the start of lockdown.
So far, he has raised almost £1,500 with his sponsored facial hair-growing, and all the cash will be used to help purchase outdoor furniture such as benches, tables and planters to help local the region’s primary schools encourage outside learning for pupils.
But Mr Vermeulen, 55, said he hopes to hit a new target of £2,000 by attracting even more attention to his cause – through dyeing his face fuzz neon pink.
He underwent the transformation at the Aimee Christina hair salon in Aboyne, where staff coloured his beard free of charge.
Mr Vermeulen will now keep himself tickled pink for a fortnight, before it all gets shaved off.
He said: “It’s very pink. Much more pink than I thought it would be.
“It didn’t look too bad when I first saw it, but when it was being applied, I could see just how pink it was and the ladies were having an absolute hoot in the salon.
“Aboyne and Upper Deeside Rotary Club, like many other organisations, have struggled and have been unable to do hardly any fundraising this year due to Covid-19
“As president, I feel that it’s my duty to do the best I can, and we had the idea of growing and colouring my beard.
“The local primary schools gave us the perfect opportunity for our fundraising, because they’re focusing more and more on outdoor learning because of Covid-19, so all the money we will raise will go towards upgrading outdoor learning facilities at local primary schools.
“It will be on my chin for at least the next two weeks, but if the cash keeps coming in, I might keep it a little bit longer.
“We beat our original goal of £1,000 quite quickly, so we’re hopeful that we can raise enough to meet our £2,000 target.”
To donate, people can visit www.peoplesfundraising.com and search for “The Lock Down Beard”.
