A NINE year old girl who shaved her head in memory of her gran has scooped Cumnock’s Young Citizen of the year award.

Niamh Connolly was shocked to win after donating her hair to charity in tribute to her grandmother Molly.

Her family were stunned after she announced plans to chop off her long hair, which she loved, to remember her who died from ovarian cancer in 2015.

She shaved 16 inches of hair off and donated it to the Little Princess Trust, raising £3,845 for charity.

Youth group Yipworld wanted to recognise her amazing gesture and awarded her the title of young citizen of the year.

Now Niamh wants to ‘keep being kind to others’ to honour her role.

She said: “I’m excited and happy I won. It means a lot as I’ve never achieved anything that big.

“I won because I got my hair shaved off in memory of my gran and gave my hair to the Little Princess Trust and raised lots of money for Ayrshire Cancer Support.

“It was a big surprise.“

Niamh’s mum Gail Ritchie said: “It’s totally amazing and mind blowing that she won. It was such a huge thing that she did and for her to be nominated for very humbling. I am so proud of her.”

“It was a big surprise, when I was told I’ve never been as speechless.

“When Niamh told me she wanted to cut her hair I thought she was kidding as she loved her long hair.

“I soon realised she was serious so we booked her appointment with Scott at UrbanHair and that’s when she dropped the bombshell that she wanted it shaved off.”

Yipworld Chief Executive Janice Hendry nominated Niamh after being impressed with the ‘strong act of kindness’.

She said: “Well I nominated Niamh because I thought it was such a strong act of kindness and understanding and empathy to help other young people.

“She had a beautiful head of hair and was willing to give it up and donate it to others which for someone so young I just thought was an incredible thing to do.

“Especially these days with social media and young people caring a lot about how they look I just thought it was a very brave and kind thing to do. It was really amazing.”