Help Make Scaldy Baldy!

A SWORDS rugby veteran will be putting his head on the line for charity – and auctioning off the chance to chop his hair, snip by snip. Shay Collins has organised a fundraising head-shave, which will take place in Peacock's Steakhouse in his native River Valley Swords, this Saturday, February 13th.

The event has been arranged in aid of ABACAS, a specialist school for children with autism located in Kilbarrack, which provides autism-specific education in north County Dublin. ‘We try and have something every year and we held a football match for cystic fibrosis last year,' Shay said. ‘We'll be having another match in September for St Michael's House, but in the meantime, we're having the head-shave.'

ABACAS was established in 2001 by parents of children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) as a means to provide autism-specific early intervention ABA and currently caters for 30 children. Shay decided to take the plunge after a relative of a friend was diagnosed with autism and the tension has been growing as rapidly as his flowing locks.

‘The craic has been building up and my hair's getting messy,' he continued. ‘I've been growing it since October, so it's four months now. ‘It's annoying, you get up and have a shower in the morning and by 4pm it's all over the place again. ‘I'd normally get it cut tight once a month, so I'm saving a fortune on hair cuts.'

Shay is a familiar face around ALSAA, where he's been a long-term member of Swords Rugby Club and with Ireland playing France in the Six Nations earlier that day, he's hoping for a big turnout on the night. A number of sponsorship cards have been dished out and Shay and his crew are hoping to raise €2,000 for the worthy cause.

At the same time, anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of a Peter Mark can play their part too. ‘We're going to have an auction on the night, where people can bid to shave my head,' Shay added. ‘We'll also be selling a snip for a fiver each.‘I don't know what I'm getting myself into! Everyone is welcome to come down and it gets underway at around 8pm.'