A fitness instructor has grown his hair and beard for a year in order to raise money for Help for Heroes (H4H).

Dan Percival refused to cut his facial hair for 365 days and has so far collected nearly £2,500 for the stunt, the Flintshire Chronicle reports.

He works at Deeside Leisure Centre and when local ice hockey team the Deeside Dragons heard about the challenge, they organised a charity match in order to raise some cash for him.

Mr Percival said the reason he chose to help out H4H is because his father served in the armed forces for 25 years and so he recognises how important it is to provide support to the military.

Speaking about the challenge, he said: "It was mentally quite hard to keep it growing for a year. By the end I couldn't have anything like yoghurt as I'd be like a messy child eating it."

Posted by Samantha ThompsonADNFCR-2867-ID-801503618-ADNFCR

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