We are all desperate to get back to the hairdressers and barbers after lockdown – but one Royal Navy sailor used her hairdressing skills to raise funds for the NHS.
Apprentice Steward Anne Godfrey, 51, who joined the RFA at HMS Raleigh on her 50th birthday, is deployed with RFA Argus in the Caribbean.
Anne used to own a hairdressing salon and revisited her skills to tidy up the barnets of the crew of the support ship, raising £500.
The grandmother of three was allocated a vacant space aboard the ship to cut hair.
“For a bargain £10 donation to the NHS Nurses and Doctors Charity, I offered haircuts to everyone on board – even the captain and the bish signed up,” said Anne.
"The reason I wanted to donate this money to the NHS is because I have seen the pressure that these guys work under and what they do for people for which I feel they do not get enough credit.
“They not only helped my husband when he was dying, but I also have a family member who contracted Coronavirus and my brother who is battling cancer. Therefore, I wanted to give something back to the NHS on behalf of the RFA and Team Argus."
“All the haircuts were carried out in my own time and I was assisted by my friend Assistant Cook Craig Walker. He generously lent me the use of his clippers so that, together with my hairdressing scissors, I could carry out different styles of cuts.”
Anne, who was widowed in 2017, comes from a strong military background, her late husband was a submariner, her father a stoker and her grandfather served in the army.
“I always wanted to join the RN but unfortunately my mother wouldn't let me.
“When my husband passed away, I tried to join the Royal Navy Reserve, but I was too old. I then joined the Sea Cadets teaching the kids, but I did not feel that I got enough out of it.
“One of my husband's friends suggested that I join the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. I had never heard of them, so googled RFA and applied. I wanted to be a Deckhand, but it didn't quite work out, so I was offered the opportunity to be an Apprentice Steward or Cook.”
RFA Argus is currently deployed to the Caribbean as part of a Royal Navy task group that is there to support island nations during hurricane season and carry out counter-narcotics operations.
