WHO is your favourite hairdresser?
That’s the question Isle of Man Newspapers is asking as we launch our Salon of the Year competition.
The competition, sponsored by Manx2.com and Sleepwell Hotels, will see the public vote for Salon of the Year and Stylist of the Year. Last year’s winners were CJ’s Hair Salon and Cath Purvis, from Hot Gossip.
Cath’s winning experience was one to remember, from both a professional and personal point of view. Since she appeared in the paper last year, Cath, who has three daughters – Kareena, Kim and Holly – has found out all kinds of fascinating information about her family tree.
She said: ‘We knew my dad had family in the UK but we’d never met them. But then after I’d been in the paper my grandad’s brother’s daughter, so my dad’s first cousin, Margaret, came in to have her hair done. I found out I had a cousin in Canada who’d moved to London and then a lady came in who had moved over to the island from Canada and she was my second or third cousin. She found out about me because she is one of my clients’ boyfriend’s mum.’
Cath discovered family in Devon and also some fascinating stories about her grandad’s brother, who ran away to fight in the First World War but was brought home again by his mother because he was too young. When he was called up to fight he was killed and Cath has a newspaper cutting reporting his death, along with a letter sent to his mother informing her about it.
‘Margaret has sent us a lot of pictures of the extended family and there is a lot of family resemblance there,’ said Cath. ‘One of her daughters looks like my sister. I just thought it was lovely because there was so much history in it all.
‘I also met another lady, Valerie Roach (Cottle), who used to work for the newspaper when it was owned by HL Dor. My nana was involved with a column about a dog called Strog and it was made into a book called Strog’s Island. Valerie brought me a copy of the book and there was a picture of my nana on the back. My nana was called Elizabeth Davies, known as Bessie, and she was HL Dor’s housekeeper. That was really good, to meet Valerie again, because I hadn’t seen her for so long, since I was little.’
Cath has three grandchildren – Marnie, seven, and Brandon and Finley, who will both turn two this year.
Voting forms for this year’s competition will start appear in the Isle of Man Examiner and the Manx Independent next week and voting will close on February 16. Winners will be announced in the Courier the following week.
The winner of Salon of the Year will receive a full page colour advert in the Courier worth £2,613.24, a meal for up to 10 at the Claremont Hotel and a glass plaque for the salon. Stylist of the Year will receive the front cover and write up in the Courier Magazine, plus a meal for two in the Sleepwell Hotel, Blackpool, including flights.