TWO Stretford Mall Iceland store managers have come up with some ‘hair-brained' schemes to help raise £1 million for the Royal British Legion.

While Paul Boffey, the store manager, was sponsored to have all the hair waxed off his legs, his colleague and assistant manager Dave Moss opted to have his barnet dyed blue for the same good cause.

The pair’s stunts are part of this year’s joint campaign by Iceland and the legion to raise £1 million to support current and ex-service men, women and their families.

According to Paul, 52, who lives in Warrington and has been manager of the Iceland branch for two and a half years, scores of cheering shoppers packed the doorway of the store to watch him to undergo his leg waxing ordeal.

He said: “Lots of people stopped by to watch what was going on and quite a bit of money was thrown into our collection bucket.

“Actually, the waxing wasn’t as painful as I’d feared because it was done by one of our assistants, Sophie Byrne, who is 17 and currently taking a beauty course at Trafford College.

"She’s done it before and is quite skillful at it.."

While Paul said that his wife Hayley knew about the waxing and gave him plenty of advance support, it was likely to be a different story with Dave and his wife Melanie.

Dave, 39, who is from Stockport and has worked at the Iceland branch in Stretford Mall for the past two years, said: “I mentioned beforehand I might have my hair dyed and she said, `you dare!’

"But I went ahead anyway because it’s a great cause.

"So when she sees me she’ll get a bit of a shock."

Dave added: “We chose to dye it blue as a bit of a joke because I’m a big fan of Manchester United, who of course are the Reds while Manchester City are the Blues.

"But I didn’t realise just how blue it would turn out. It’s a sort of neon shade which is more Everton than City blue."

Each year the legion provides essential and critical support to more than 7,000 ex-service people who are unable to carry out household repairs or small jobs as part of its Poppy Calls scheme.