OCTOBER 25 - WHAT AM I DOING?

Hello!
My name is Chris Thomas, and I work for www.realale.com , from their shop in East Twickenham. Since June, I have been sporting a rather bizarre appearance… In June, I felt that I had to do something for a charity called Primhe. Primhe is a national charity, run locally in Twickenham, which provides primary healthcare for those who suffer from mental illnesses such as Depression.

Since June, I have abandoned my normal look, and started to grow out my hair and beard (those of you who have been into the shop since then, or visited our stand at the GBBF 2006 will no-doubt have spotted me, and cowered back in shock and fear!) The reason that I have done this is so that I can dye my hair and beard in realale.com’s company colours of Magenta, and be a walking advertisement for Primhe. I hope to raise as much money for the charity as I can between now and the Dyeing Day (or D-Day!) of 30th October, and from then until after Christmas. (I’ve not decided what will happen to it after then – I really do want to get rid of it already – but I may have become rather attached to it by then. Beards do kinda grow on you…)

Since my hair & beard reached a certain bulk, I have experienced a noticeable change in people’s reactions to me, and it’s not always been that favourable. I get particular grief from my parents’ friends who warn me that it’s “unsafe for you to use public transport looking like that”, and from my father who is convinced that I’m “losing it”! In many ways I’m really not looking forward to turning magenta on Halloween, and the walking around looking like Animal from the Muppets, but it’s something that I feel that I need to do.
Primhe has recently been set up, and needs all the funding and publicity that it can get.
If you’d like to help Primhe by donating money, (and justify my multi-coloured hair adventure), please contact me at Chaos@London.com, or Primhe at info@primhe.org. Real Ale customers can also donate money at our shop at 371 Richmond Road, Twickenham.

The Primhe website can be found at www.primhe.org, for those seeking further information. In addition to this newsletter, there will be posters displayed across Twickenham, Richmond, and Teddington, as well as (hopefully) articles in the local press, and on local radio stations. If any of you would be able to further advertise this, or provide further advertising or funding for Primhe, any offers would be gratefully welcomed.

I’d like to thank Nick & www.realale.com for putting up with me through this, and also to Kick Hair (26a York Street, Twickenham), for agreeing to dye my beard & hair for free. In doing this, they’re temporarily shelving their talents & skills in creating stylish hair fashions, and dyeing me to look like a freak!
Thank you for your time,
As always yours, but forever myself,
Chris.