Why little Noah is proving to be a real chip off the old block ...

Richard was working as an aspiring solicitor in Crawley in 1995 when he underwent his charity haircut and raised £300.

Now his son Noah has done the same thing and has raised more than £1,000 for Rockinghorse Children’s Charity, the official fundraising arm of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton.

Richard said: “Back in my younger days I’d left my hair to grow for seven years and as you’d expect it was quite some way down my back.

“I decided I was due a change of style and managed to help a worthy cause at the same time.”

Little Noah was very poorly as a toddler and spent time in hospital before having a successful operation at Great Ormond Street.

The brave youngster made a full recovery and decided that he wanted to help other poorly children and had his flowing locks chopped like his father did over two decades earlier.

Noah was born with a cystic hygroma, a form of cyst, on his back which required surgery at Great Ormond Street by world renowned plastic surgeon Mr Loshan Kangasu.

Dad Richard said: “There is nothing worse than seeing your small child suffering in hospital but Noah’s recovery following his surgery has been remarkable.

“He now leads an entirely normal life, loves his football - and his PS4 - and describes his scar on his back to his friends as his ‘shark bite’.”

Rockinghorse CEO Ryan Heal said: “This latest challenge shows the breadth of the impact the charity has made across Sussex in the past 50 years.

“Many Sussex adults who spent time in ‘The Old Alex’ on Dyke Road, are now seeing their children and grandchildren cared for at ‘The New Alex.’

“We’re very proud of what Noah has raised for Rockinghorse and his donation will go towards our ongoing projects providing cutting edge care and equipment for the children of Sussex that need our help the most.

“We look forward to the third generation of the Pollins family taking on the same challenge in the year 2037!”

Richard added: “We will always be very grateful for the exceptional care and support we’ve received from the hospitals Noah spent time in - they do a tremendous job in very difficult circumstances.”

Meanwhile, Richard’s haircut all those years ago didn’t do him any harm, - he went on to become the managing partner at solicitors DMH Stallard in Crawley.