A BIGGAR restaurant owner has made £1,300 after braving the shave for Macmillan.

Abed Ullah, who runs the Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant in High Street, took on the challenge on Sunday to raise the money to help people affected by cancer.

He told the Peeblesshire News: "It's very cold and quite weird.
"People are coming into the restaurant and saying 'who is this guy?' 

"It's been a big change going from a full head of hair and a long beard, but I just thought why not? It grows back. People with cancer don't have that luxury."

"Ive had a great response from everyone and I am grateful to everyone who donated."

Abed got his head and beard shaved during the Biggar Day Out festivities and also managed to raise £430 through henna painting at the restaurant.

He added: "We've always done the henna painting and this year they have kindly donated it to Macmillan, so it's added to our total.

"It has been really positive, my only worry was that I didn't want people to think they had to keep donating every time they came into the restaurant."

And the maître d' isn't a stranger to fundraising. He has raised £400 for people involved with refugees and two years ago he took a 'make up selfie' to raise money for Cancer Research.

He said: "I saw people were doing 'no make up selfies' on Facebook, so I took a picture and said this is mine.

"Loads of people got back to me and said 'men have to put on make up to take part in the challenge', so I put some make up on, went to the charity shop, got a dress and put it on.

"I managed to raise £223 then, so it's nice to do something to help people who really need it.

"You have just got to remember that it's all for a good cause and I definitely think there should be more of that attitude in the world," he added.