The time has come for Tim Bartlett-Taylor to go for the snip…of his hair.

UNE’s Senior Manager, Student Services, has a long association with UNE.  He studied teaching while living in Duval College, took a break from UNE to teach, then became a staff member with the University and has stayed there for coming up to 10 years.

He tends to be clean-cut kind of guy, but during the COVID lockdowns, haircuts were hard to come by, so Tim decided it was time to grow his hair out to see if it could be donated as a wig. Not one to waste an opportunity, he decided to use the occasion decided to raise funds for his nephew’s school in Tamworth.

Why Tamworth? “Most of my family lives in the Tamworth area,” Tim says. “I thought Will, my nephew, and his school friends who have additional support needs, would be a worthy cause to raise money for. Will attends Bullimbal School, a school which educates students from Kindergarten to Year 12 with moderate or severe intellectual disabilities, including autism, physical disabilities, mental health, visual or hearing impairments.”

“Currently the school has ten classes and caters for 69 students from the Tamworth community and surrounding areas. To get some playground equipment for these kids, something they can look forward to at recess and lunch, I thought it would be a great thing to chop my hair off for.”

The criteria for hair donated to be made into wigs cites that it usually needs to be 36cm long and have few “greys”. At (not quite yet) 40, Tim knows this is his last chance to donate his hair – he has kids.

“Hopefully we can get it off in time to donate and help those undergoing medical treatments which cause hair loss, and raise some money for the Bullimbal P&C to purchase some playground equipment and sensory toys for the kids.”

“I will be grateful for any donation, small or large”.

To help drive the donations, Tim’s six year old son, Henry, has decided to shave his head as well.

“The big chop will be around my birthday next month,” says Tim. “I don’t have the head for a shaven look and the timing of going into winter leaves a lot to be desired, but that’s nothing compared to what other people are going through. If we can bring some joy into people’s lives, then that’s probably the best part of all this anyway.”

If you would like to donate, please use the link: https://gofund.me/54073798