A 10-year-old boy has braved the shave to raise thousands of pounds for a cancer charity.

Callum Smith, a Crosthwaite School pupil from Cartmel Fell, is now sporting a bald look having had his hair clipped in front of his classmates.

Callum had his trim on the stage fresh from playing Buttons in the school's adaptation of Cinderella for its Christmas pantomime, and has raised approximately £2,600 in cash, cheque and online donations. The money will all go to Cancer Research UK.

His mum, Helen Todd, was full of admiration for her son's fundraising exploits.

"I'm really proud of him," she said. "We were hoping to get £500 and we thought we were pushing it a bit but it's just been amazing.

"Cancer has touched everybody's life and everyone has been saying what a brilliant thing it is for him to do – there have been random people turning up at the door with donations and it's just amazing."

Mrs Todd said her son's wish to support people affected by cancer had come as a surprise, but added it was borne out of personal experience with the illness.

He had seen his grandmother fight breast cancer, lost a great aunt to whom he was very close, and is currently supporting a close friend whose mother also has cancer.

"It was a lot of little things that made him want to do something to help," she said. "I'm just gobsmacked at how it has gone. We're just so proud of him and also very grateful to everyone who has donated money."

She added that staff at Crosthwaite school has also been very supportive of Callum's cancer shave.

She said: "They obviously helped by letting him do it on stage after the panto, and then they also sent out the details to other parents so they could donate.

"There was also a collection at the end of the panto that they organised and we collected about £500 just from that."

To support Callum's fundraiser, visit https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/callums-giving-page-13