MARTIN OLDHAM has been described as a “brilliant dad’’ since his son, Finlay, was born 18 months ago.

So says his wife, Melanie, and with a second baby due in November – a sister for Finlay – this is an exciting time for the family.

When Martin’s mum, Andrea Oldham, from Shelley, saw our offer of a £250 Father’s Day makeover with clothes from the House of Fraser Linea and Howick labels as well as hairstyling, she decided to nominate her son on behalf of Finlay.

Andrea says Martin has taken fatherhood “in his stride” and has been happy to put his own hobbies and interests in second place to playing with Finlay.

Martin’s days are long and dusty at work plastering.

Melanie said: “Plaster is terrible stuff – it gets everywhere. He’s always covered in it by the time he gets home.”

His job is one of the reasons why he likes to keep his hair short and practical.

So we thought it would be a real treat to give the busy dad a chance to smarten up with a new haircut and summer clothes.

“I don’t go shopping for clothes,” said Martin. “Mel buys all mine and I don’t really like wearing smart stuff. I’m a Levi jeans wearer.”

But, after a visit to the Three Degrees hair salon in St Peter’s Street where owner Paul Plant gave Martin a very short new haircut, we persuaded him to try something other than denims and a T-shirt.

A pair of blue linen ‘denims’ offered him an alternative to jeans, teamed with a white and patterned shirt – but we also asked him to model navy chinos with a summery checked shirt.

“I’m quite fussy about my clothes,” said Martin, who loved the checked shirt and said the linen trousers felt extremely comfortable and cool.

“But I still like my Levis!”

Martin and Melanie, who live in Brockholes, met when she was working as a deputy manager at a hotel and her future husband was helping out in the kitchen.

“A lot of my friends are chefs,” said Martin. “I used to go along and help with the preparation if they had a big event.”

His cooking skills have come in useful for married life as he makes most of the family’s meals.

A bit of an action man in his spare time, Martin is a keen golfer, diver, footballer and motorcyclist – although all these hobbies have been reined in since he became a father.

Now he’s to be found taking Finlay swimming and teaching him to play golf and football.

He’s also cut back on his workload in order to spend more time as a family.

“I used to work every weekend before we had Finlay but since he was born I have done no more than five or six weekends,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s difficult when you have your own business but family time is important.”

Taking time out to have a makeover gave Martin a chance to have some well-deserved pampering and when Melanie and Andrea turned up to see his new-look they were suitably impressed.

But no-one was quite as thrilled to see him as Finlay!