Sisters join Exeter homeless shelter barber training

Sisters Abi and Anna will be working with staff from HATA

An initiative to train homeless shelter residents in barbering skills in Devon has recruited its first trainees.

Sisters Abi and Anna, tenants of St Petrock's, a homeless charity in Exeter, said they were the first sign-ups to an initiative by Hair at the Academy (HATA), a hairdressing school.

The siblings said they were both keen to "thrive and make something of themselves".

HATA said it has been working with homeless people offering free haircuts.

Hairdresser Rhi Belcher, who is leading the training, said she and HATA founder Mary Pugsley MBE were approached by community interest firm Hair in the Community with the idea.

Ms Belcher said the six-month programme meant trainees could go "from education to employment", alongside gaining a mental health awareness certificate.

Rhi Belcher will be training for the six-month programme

Trainee Anna, 21, said she had spent her life "in the care system", while she had experienced homelessness twice in the last two years, staying in hotels and moving around each time.

She said her dream job would be to "own a van and make coffee, travelling around the world" - but the training could turn her vision into one of "coffee and cuts".

Referring to periods of separation from her sister, Anna added: "I'm glad that we got back together and we live together because we both want to thrive in our lives and make something of ourselves."

Abi said she was "really grateful" for the opportunity to work alongside each other.

'Lease of life'

Organisers said the scheme was a "beacon of hope" for individuals seeking to rebuild their lives.

Ms Belcher said: "A lot of the people who find themselves living on the streets, when they look in the mirror, don't recognise the person looking back.

"So when you can take them back to maybe the bricklayer that used to have a skin fade, and that's who they can see in the mirror again, it gives them that extra little lease of life and hope again."

She said chatting to clients could be "eye-opening", including tales of trouble, hardship, but also of "real achievement and hope and strength".

"I think it's nice just to be seen and heard at the same time by a complete stranger," she added.