A Cumbrian barber is aiming to cut costs for the elderly by fundraising to offer free haircuts to pensioners in his shop. 

Gary Sommerville owns The Lad Barber in Egremont and is a big name within the local community due to his regular fundraising work. 

In 2022, his shop won the Good Citizen award after donating money to the Henderson Suite at West Cumberland Hospital, as well as sponsoring a number of local sports teams. 

Now, Gary is aiming to provide pensioners with the help they need during the ongoing cost of living crisis. 

On GoFundMe, he wrote: "We’re fundraising with hope to make pensioners haircuts free.

"Our aim is to raise enough money so we will be able to use it to pay for pensioners haircuts.

"We have already raised over £500 in the shop with donations but for this to really work and have any longevity we need more.

"Quite often a pensioner will go without a haircut for months as we all know its a struggle to just pay the bills & keep the heating on these days.

"Also this could be their only interaction with someone else, 20 minutes chat in that barber chair maybe all the conversation they are getting, We know so many men look forward to coming in & we have noticed a pattern of decreasing visits of pensioners over the last year.

"We would love to be able to do this but we need your help to do it."

Gary is aiming to raise £5,000 and you can donate to his fundraiser here.