A short cut to supporting Scotland's newest hospice

Taylor and Anne with grandsons Taylor (8) and Alexander (3) at the opening of the salon.

Taylor Ferguson and wife Anne sponsored the setting up of the purpose-designed salon in the Kilbryde Hospice in East Kilbride and recently officially opened the new facility.

The multi-million pound state of the art South Lanarkshire hospice was built in the grounds of Hairmyres Hospital and currently offers a range of day facilities.

They include drop-in sessions, counselling, care at home, music therapy, complimentary therapy, a befrienders service and sanctuary room and will soon provide specialist ‘end of life’ care.

Taylor and Anne, who have lived locally for almost 40 years, first became involved in the salon plan after an approach by one of the hospice’s directors and major benefactor, Lady Haughey.

Taylor, who has welcomed a string of famous faces including Rachel Hunter, Lulu, David Hasselhoff and Rick Astley to his salon, said: “Lady Haughey is a client and throughout the hospice build project kept us informed on progress whenever she was in our salon.

“Then one day we started chatting about the need for a hair salon in the hospice building and the benefits that could be generated for patients and we offered to help. It’s always good to be able to give something back.

“We organised the fit-out of the space and secured the furniture and equipment. One of our product suppliers Schwarzkopf kindly donated enough shampoo, conditioner and hair spray to keep the salon stocked up for at least a year.

“The hospice offers care for patients who are different stages of their illness and the salon will exist to offer an additional ‘feel better’ service.”

The hospice will organise a rota of hairdresser volunteers who will offer hair services and treatments.

Lady Haughey said: “The hospice team is enormously grateful to Taylor and Anne for their enthusiastic and generous backing of the salon project.

The project was founded by the late Tony McGuinness whose widow Gretta joined the Fergusons along with hospice chief executive Gordon McHugh for the unveiling of a plaque marking their support.