Damian Carruthers starts off fundraising campaign for Marie Curie with free haircuts at Istanbul Barbers in Hunstanton

More than £250 was raised at a town barber shop as an ambitious fundraising project got under way.

Istanbul Barbers in Hunstanton played host to the first of resident Damian Curruthers’ scheme of events to raise money for Marie Curie.

Last Saturday, the High Street trimmers offered all haircuts for free – and instead took donations, with £256.68 collected for the charity.

This kick-started what Damian, who has been a regular at the barbers since the shop opened, hopes will be a successful few months.

He is looking to raise a total of £26,000 – and with his band Tiger Sky, they have some exciting plans ahead.

Fellow band members Adam Brucass and Alexander Tor Stangeland have helped him to write a song which will feature the Snettisham Primary School choir, which will be released in September and hopefully raise funds in the process.

Before that, they are shooting a video at the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton and plan to host a show there on October 18 – with all proceeds going to Marie Curie. Damian first got involved with them a couple of years ago after they picked up on one of his songs.

On choosing that charity, he said: “My mum’s got dementia and Alzheimer’s, so I’ve related to the nurses there and the work they do. I’ve connected to them.

“I wrote the song and they were really happy with it, so we got a call from their PR team and they started pushing it.

“They asked us the following year, and then this year is their 75th birthday - so we decided to go really big with it and do something a bit different.

“There’s so many things that inspired it, so many thoughts and emotions. I went to the Snettisham school as a kid, so to be able to do it with their choir is going to be really cool.”

Damian hopes to get more Hunstanton businesses and residents involved in his charity work in the coming months.

He has been a musician for as long as he can remember, and has also written a children’s book – so is glad to put his talents towards a good cause.

Tiger Sky are also set to release their debut single, Walking On Raindrops, at the end of this month.

“It’s starting to build momentum. There’s so much work to do, but with other businesses involved and events coming up, more and more people are getting behind it,” Damian added.

“It’s going well, but there’s a lot of work to do.”

He has urged anyone interested in helping him out to email damian@wyos.co.uk