Fountain woman to shave her head for Foyle Hospice

A Londonderry woman is to go through with the bold gesture of shaving her head for charity at a fun day in the Fountain Estate this weekend.
A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.
A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.

Samantha Gillon organised the fun day to raise money for charity in memory of her grandmother, Mable Ferguson, who passed away after a battle with lung cancer in April.

Samantha had told her grandmother, who was worried about the hair loss associated with cancer treatment, that the two of them would ‘go baldy’ together.

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Samantha explained: “My granny was diagnosed, just before Christmas, with lung cancer. When she was told she had the cancer she was worried about the chemo and she was worried about her hair falling out. I told her as soon as she starts the chemo I would go baldy with her at the same time. She thought this was hilarious. She passed before she could start her chemo but I thought ‘I’m going to stick to my word’ and even if it can’t bring her any happiness then at least the money raised will go to a good cause.”

A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.
A demonstration of Dry Stone Wall building technique at a Vintage Agricultural Fair in Donegal.

The 27-year-old has organised a charity fun day for this Saturday (June 21, 2014) to remember her grandmother Mable Ferguson, who lived in the Fountain Estate her whole life.

“My granny passed away on Easter Sunday, April 20th”, Samantha explains. “I couldn’t sleep one night, just after she had passed and I decided ‘I’m going to hold a fun day’.You don’t want people remembering only that ‘Mable died of cancer’ so this is a sort of a way to say ‘she was a fun woman’. She really was. This is just a way for me to say bye to her really. She was a plain woman. She never swore, she was friends with everybody.”

“There are bouncy castles being donated, the PSNI coming up with the land rovers to show the kids all their gear and stuff. There’s going to be face-painting, balloon models. Mickey Mouse is coming for a couple of hours. At the end of the day we are letting off balloons, all different types of balloons for the different types of cancer.

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“There’s a wee Scottish dancer - she’s doing a bit by herself - Jasmine Watson. She’s from the Fountain and she does the dancing with the Cathedral Youth Club. They’re going into the Walled City Tattoo this year. I have seven men, grown men, getting waxed - full body waxes, not just the legs. At the end of it I’m getting my head shaved with a 0.5.

“The Fountain is a small community and, from years gone by, when someone needed something the whole estate would have come together and that is the way it is now.”