A secondary school student from St Ives is donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust after growing it for 12 years.

Martha Bennett, aged 12, who attends Kimbolton School, has decided to show her support for other children by getting the big chop.

Martha will visit the Cutting Room, in St Ives, on December 30 for her hair cut and hopes to raise as much money in the meantime for the charity.

Martha’s mum, Betony, said: “She always complains when I brush her hair, it is so long and it gets really knotty.

“So she has been asking for a while, can I cut my hair and I was reluctant to get it cut as it is so beautiful and so long.

The Hunts Post: Martha is to donate her hair to the Little Princess TrustMartha is to donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust (Image: Betony Bennett)

“But when she said she wanted to donate it to charity, I was like okay great, yes let’s do that.”

A Just Giving page has been set up for people to donate and a fundraising target has been set of £550.

There was also other inspiration behind the chop, Betony said: “We do martial arts and we had a family friend who was one of the martial arts girls who died young of cancer.

“I know she had real hair wigs and when she passed away, we had friends in the army cadets as well and one of those had alopecia and she wanted to pass the wig onto her.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that causes your hair to fall out.

Betony said: "I just think it is a really good thing, for girls, especially teenage girls it must be really difficult for them.

"I think that it is a really good thing that Martha is also doing fundraising and her target is how much it takes to make just one wig.

The Little Princess Trust provides free real hair wigs to children and young people, up to 24 years, who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions.

The charity has supplied more than 8000 wigs to children and young people and have invested circa £5 million into ground-breaking childhood cancer research.

If you would like to donate visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/betony-bennett?