An 11-year-old Tovil girl is to cut off her hair for charity because she was saddened by a radio programme about breast cancer.

Skyla Kotsis, of Farleigh Hill, will see her strawberry blonde locks cut from 20cm down to just 5cm when she has a radical restyling at the Cancer Research charity shop in Gabriels Hill.

She plans to try to raise as much sponsorship money as possible in time for her short back and sides in March.

Skyla, who attends St Simon Stock School, said: "The reason I’m doing it is to help unfortunate people who are fighting a terrible battle."

Her school mate Karys McGrattan said: "Skyla is very brave for doing something for complete strangers and, yes, she is still a nutter."

Proud Mum Rita said: "Skyla and I were listening to a radio station about people with cancer and she became very sad and wanted to do something about it."

To sponsor young Skyla contact www.justgiving.com/skygoesbald