Community pastor offers free haircuts to men in need

Community pastor Graham McBain has turned a lock down hobby into a part-time job by offering free haircuts to men in need across the town.

Transcript

00:00And with Graeme we've been in his Hartlepool home and Graeme I understand you have a few

00:06things to your boss and one of them is you've taken up hairdressing barbers, explain that

00:11to me.

00:12That's right, well I'm a Baptist minister, I'm a community pastor, I work in the town

00:15of Hartlepool and I spend my time in the town helping people and getting involved with community

00:21projects and barbering has been a passion of mine for many years now. I learnt to barber

00:26at a night college a few years ago so I've been a qualified barber for the last three

00:31years or so and I offer free haircuts for men in Hartlepool that wouldn't normally access

00:37barbers, many of whom are housebound or stay home for various reasons and so it's not just

00:43a haircut, it's about spending time with people as well and listening to people and just helping

00:49people along the way, encouraging them as much as I can. So that's the bulk of my ministry

00:53as a Baptist minister in Hartlepool.

00:56And how's it going, what's the demand for it?

00:58It's growing, I mean it's interesting, some days I'm busy all day, some days there's cancellations,

01:04I've got a client list of about 100 people these days so I've got a lot of referrals

01:09I go back to and it really seems to be meeting a need. I would say it's not so much about

01:14the barbering, it's about spending time with people.

01:18And that's massively important isn't it?

01:19Hugely important, people need to be listened to and if this gives them a bit of dignity

01:24and a bit of respect then it's good to do.