Ryan-Luke Davies, a 14-year-old pupil at John Kyrle High School, braved the shave for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of his great-uncle Norman Gore, on Sunday, November 13th; exactly four months after his death. Ryan had his head shaved at The White Lion in Wilton, Ross-on-Wye, where he works part time.

Ryan is also a Royal Marine Cadet, he joined up just over a year ago, as soon as he turned 13. On Sunday afternoon, he took part in the parade in Gloucester, for Rememberance Sunday, and he then attended the service in Glocuester Cathedral.

When he is old enough, Ryan wants to join as a fully-fledged Marine, and he really looked up to his great-uncle and his granddad, who both served in the unit.

On June 2nd this year, 93-year-old Norman Gore received the Legion d’honneur, which is the highest honour awarded by the French authorities, for his bravery during the D-Day landings. Norman was presented with the medal in Portsmouth, with several other ex-Royal Marines, and Ryan acompanied him, as a special guest.

Ryan was dressed in his ‘number-ones’, and was mistaken by some of the guests as a fully-fledged Royal Marine. He was very proud of his great uncle, and he told the Gazette that he will treasure that day for the rest of his life.

Five weeks after Ryan and his great-uncle attended the event, Norman died; he had terminal cancer, but he had kept that information to himself; no-one in the family had known that he was ill.

This year, the Remembrance period was even more poignant for Ryan, so he decided to do something in commemoration, and raise funds for Macmillan. The charity gave Norman support before he passed away and Ryan decided to give something back to them.

As Ryan is due to be promoted on November 26th, to an H.G.I, and he will need to have his hair very short by then, he thought that having his hair shaved for Macmillan a couple of weeks before his promotion would be the perfect way to raise funds for the charity in Norman’s memory.

Ryan’s Mum, Marie Tyler-Davies told the Gazette that Ryan has, so far, raised more than £1,200. She added that his employers, Lee and John at the White Lion made a generous contibution.

She added that they were also very grateful to mobile hairdresser Clare Barnett, who shaved Ryan’s hair.

If you would like to sponsor Ryan, please visit his online donation page. There are also hard copies of sponsor forms at The White Lion.