A plucky senior assistant at a menswear store pushed himself through the pain barrier to support a charity that provides a better life for underprivileged children in Africa.<\/p>\n
Tayler Davies, who works at Burton’s at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre, in Wrexham, was given leave by his bosses to step out from behind the till and nip across to the I\u00e2l Beauty Salon at nearby Yale College for an appointment with fear.<\/p>\n
Because waiting for him beside the treatment couch was his friend, 16-year-old Sarah Jones, who gleefully proceeded to wax both his legs while he winced in agony as hundreds of hairs were ripped out by the roots.<\/p>\n
Tayler\u2019s excruciating experience was one of the first fund-raising events aimed at collecting enough cash to help send Sarah, along with 10 big-hearted fellow students from Yale, on a 9,000 special mission to South Africa in February next year.<\/p>\n
As part of the college\u2019s latest Challenge Africa project, they will be based in the township of Manenberg near Cape Town and will work with underprivileged children there and at orphanages in the area.<\/p>\n
The intrepid group, who are all in late teens or early twenties, have been drawn from various courses at Yale including Public Services, Child Care and Beauty Therapy.<\/p>\n
They have each been tasked with raising at least \u00a31,400 to pay for their trip and as Sarah, who lives at Sychdyn near Mold and attended Argoed High School, Alltami until last year, has just learned how to perform the perfect leg waxing, that\u2019s exactly what she chose to do as her first money-spinning venture.<\/p>\n
Tayler, 22, lives in Wrexham and has worked for Burton\u2019s for six years, transferring to the Eagles Meadow store three months ago from the branch in Broughton Park.<\/p>\n
He was quick to step up the mark and volunteer when Sarah told him she was seeking a \u201cvictim\u201d for her sponsored leg waxing exercise.<\/p>\n
On the big day and lying gingerly on the couch as Sarah stirred up a big bowl of wax ready for the treatment, he admitted he was very apprehensive about what was going to happen to his leg hair but determined to help his friend raise as much cash as possible.<\/p>\n
He said his friends and colleagues had already pledged \u00a3100 in sponsorship which was matched by Sarah\u2019s mates to the tune of \u00a360.<\/p>\n
Seconds later, the first six-inch strip of wax-dipped paper was torn rapidly away from his leg, taking with it a clump of hairs and leaving Tayler wincing in agony.<\/p>\n
This torture was repeated another 20-30 times until both his legs were totally devoid of covering around an hour later.<\/p>\n
After his ordeal was at last over, he said: \u201cIt was pretty painful but not nearly as bad as I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy legs look a bit like a plucked frozen chicken but I don\u2019t mind too much because it\u2019s for a very good cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never done anything like this before and after today I don\u2019t think I\u2019d like to go through it again. I\u2019m just glad I was able help Sarah raise a bit of money for her trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah said: \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to Tayler for doing this. Waxing can be a bit painful, I know, but I tried to be as gentle as quick as possible with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also made some fairy cakes to sell in the salon and by the end of the day that and the waxing had raised about \u00a3200.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver in South Africa the group from Yale will be helping children in deprived schools and orphanages, so it is a really worthwhile cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong the things we will be doing with the children is helping them to improve their IT skills by working with computers, which is something most of us take for granted in our country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trip It should be very interesting and rewarding and we\u2019re all looking forward to it very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining Sarah on the 12-day Challenge Africa expedition are fellow Yale learners Catrin Crawshaw, Mica Gray, Lauren Jones, Kayleigh Jones, Gemma Lawrence, Rose Morgan, Natasha Parnham, Laura Penny, Gabriella Risi and Chloe Rogers.<\/p>\n