It's curtains for 30-year beard

Barry Allan sacrifices his beard and mo for a good cause as the World’s Greatest Shave gears up for a $4 million fundraising target.

Sarah Harvey

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WORLD'S Greatest Shave supporter Barry Allan is inviting his grandchildren to his beard cutting ceremony, so they can check out the new look.

They've never seen the Willowbank granddad clean-shaven.

"The beard and the mo are coming off - I'm keeping the hair," Mr Allan said. "I started growing the beard when I was 18 - that's 30-plus years ago."

Joking to friends, Mr Allan offered to lose the treasured beard for $5000. His fundraising tally for the Leukaemia Foundation event is now close to half of that. The foundation hopes to raise $4 million to fund ongoing medical research and services.

Mr Allan will take off his beard and moustache in the foyer of McDonald's Ipswich, Limestone St, at 11.30am on March 17. Donations can be made online at www.worldsgreatestshave.com by searching for his name.