BEAUTICIAN Helen Cass had a moment of illumination when she herself had been put out of action.

“I’d had both my knees replaced and while I was off, I would have loved somebody to come round to give me a manicure,” she said.

The founder of Total Beauty, located on Battle Hill in the shadow of Benson’s Monument, has done quite a lot over the years to contribute to the greater wellbeing of the community.

One member of staff, Sarah Miller, recently went into hospital to give a terminally ill woman some relaxing beauty treatments, for example, while another, Lauren Westgarth, visited a patient who had just had a hip replacement.

“We’ve always done little bits on a regular basis,” said Helen.“But now I’ve decided to launch the mobile side of things – taking beauty treatments out to people wherever they might be – as a proper service.”

Normal salon fees, without any call-out charges, will apply for the service, which will be available on Mondays and Wednesdays to begin with. That could also be extended into the evenings, should there be the demand.

Helen stresses that her business offers beauty treatments and not a substitute for services offered by healthcare professionals. “We do pedicures and not chiropody, for one thing,” she said.

“We’re a very empathetic team and we work with care associations on doing visits to hospitals, old people’s homes, the houses of people recovering from operations and sometimes bereavement, and we have people with anxiety on our books who have a problem leaving their home.

“What we do is all about pampering and a chat and coming away leaving our customers feeling uplifted.”

Helen’s website can be found at www.hexhamtotal
beauty.co.uk