David Wilcock–Amadeus Hair

Amadeus Hair is a family business established in Newtown in 1994, owned by a local husband and wife couple, David, and Alison.

Years ago, after seeing a television documentary regarding New Zealand's waste being shipped to a town in Malaysia near where Alison's family lived, we felt moved to do something to reduce the waste in our community, so we decided to recycle waste plastic wrappers into a functional product we could sell in our shop. So, in our spare time, we create “Happy Bags” in our shop and sell them to our customers and the business community. In turn, they supply their plastic wrappers for us to recycle. This has raised awareness of our waste and where it goes more widely.

Gillies McIndoe Research Institute had been in the news regarding their research around the treatment for strawberry birthmarks. Alison has a niece in Malaysia who has this condition so there was a synergy with the Gillies McIndoe's research.

It was clear that Gillies McIndoe stood out as a worthy cause to support and promote within our local community, and further afield. Not only is Gillies McIndoe an independent research organisation in our local area of Newtown, but it relies on donations to conduct its research and our Happy Bags can raise funds and awareness for them. Cancer impacts many people's lives, so research into treatments is vital. Gillies McIndoe is a small lab conducting innovative cancer research which could make a big difference in many people's lives here and further afield.

It's our pleasure to support and be a part of the wonderful research work Gillies McIndoe is doing.