SCISSOR-happy snipper Gemma Snowball spent yesterday clocking up a ton of haircuts to reach her latest charity target.

Gemma, style director at Elite Hair and Beauty, in Bishop Auckland, is already a regular fundraiser for the Butterwick Hospice, but chose to support Breast Cancer Care for its awareness week.

Friends, relatives and colleagues queued all day and night to go under the scissors, and by yesterday evening, she was surging past the halfway mark in her marathon stint.

She had music and a karaoke to keep her awake overnight and was confident of beating her £1,000 target.

Gemma, 24, who recently moved to Bishop Auckland from Newton Aycliffe, said: "I had £700 in sponsorship before I started, and people have been making donations all day.

"My only problem is cold hands, because they have been wet all day, but some of the other girls are helping with shampooing and blow drying when I can't finish off inside the 15 minutes I have allowed for each cut. The volunteers have all been great. I can't thank them enough. I have had to do two people at once to get everybody in, but it has all worked out."

Gemma has worked for Elite for more than five years, taking a year out to work in a cruise ship salon.

She has raised hundreds of pounds for the hospice by taking part in firewalk and great escape events.