A LARGE crowd watched in amazement yesterday as Miss St Helier Tracy de Castro went ahead in freezing conditions to have her head shaved in the name of charity.

There was a chill factor of -5C as the parish beauty queen, who is also Maid of Honour to Miss Battle, agreed to let her shiny, long dark hair be cut off and her head be shaved.Making the promise in December to have her head shaved or left in tact depending on the highest amount of donations on either side, it must have seemed a case of stark reality when the moment came to go for the bald and bitterly cold look.In a bid to gain more funds for Robin Ward and Jersey Hospice Care, she extended the deadline recently, and had to agree to go ahead with the shaving when a £400 donation tipped the scales for the cut.The venture, which took place outside Hallmark Cards in King Street attracted a large crowd and Miss de Castro showed herself to be a very good sport as she managed a smile as lengths of her hair were handed to her.Chrissie Evans from Hallmark Cards who also donated funds towards the venture said she would have cried if she had lost long hair in such a beautiful condition.’God bless her, because I don’t think she wanted to lose her hair but she still went through with it in this freezing weather,’ she said.Donations for the appeal continued to be handed into the shop long after she had made her exit, no doubt for another look in the mirror at her cool new image.