A caring 11-year-old girl plans to donate her hair to a charity which makes wigs for children suffering from cancer.

Powers Hall Primary School pupil Ellie Beauchamp will cut off her Rapunzel-like locks for the Little Princess Trust and wants to raise the £350 it will cost the charity to turn them into a hairpiece.

Her mum Linda Piper, of Humber Road, Witham, couldn’t believe it when Ellie suggested cutting 12-inches off her hair, which now reaches the bottom of her back.

She said: “Because she is going up to secondary school, she wanted to change her hairstyle and she suggested cutting off a foot.

“She saw in the Braintree and Witham Times that another little girl had cut her hair off for the Little Princess Trust so she said it doesn’t matter because my hair will grow back but theirs won’t.

“I love her having long hair. She has asked for short hair before but I have always said no and told her she could only have a trim.

“But I couldn’t say no to this cause.”

The Little Princess Trust makes wigs for children who have lost their hair through cancer treatment and other illnesses.

Ellie, who is going to attend Maltings Academy in September, will have her hair cut in May.

To donate, visit: www.mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/elliemae03.