BARBER John Preece is hanging up his scissors after cutting hair for nearly 70 years.

Mr Preece, 83, started lopping people's locks back in 1928 and says he has trimmed thousands of customers since.

He has run his own barber shop in Honey Lane, Cholsey, since 1932 and carried on well past retirement age.

"I like it because when you work as a hairdresser, you can see what you've done," said Mr Preece. His past client list has included 1940s jockeys Freddie Fox and Freddie Lane, as well as people at Fair Mile Hospital in Cholsey.

"I used to cut women's hair many years ago, but it has all changed. There's all these fancy hairdressers now," he said.

Mr Preece, of Crescent Way, Cholsey, left school in Abingdon when he was 14 and started working at Turner's hairdressers in Didcot, which was run by his brother-in-law and sister.

He had his first customer a few months later, and started his own shop - called John Preece - in Cholsey in 1932, marrying wife Jean 17 years later.

He worked from Mondays to Saturdays until he was 65, when he cut his hours down to Thursdays to Saturdays.

"I wanted to be a hairdresser since I was a little boy," he said.

"I still enjoy it. It is still rewarding."

Mr Preece trims his last customer next Saturday.

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