What is Movember and why do I support it?

Movember, the month formerly known as 'November', is a moustache-growing charity event that raises funds and awareness for men’s health. Movember participants, known as Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, sign up on Movember.com and then choose to Grow a moustache, Move by walking or running 60 kilometres throughout the month, or Host a Mo-ment by gathering friends. Funds raised during Movember go towards supporting innovative world-class men’s health projects in key focus areas – prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.

I’ve been taking part in Movember since 2010 when it was relatively unknown. I’ll be honest, at the start it just seemed like a cool idea and a bit of fun for a good cause. I’m not naturally blessed with facial hair (as you can see from the pictures), so if the objective was to grow a beard then I’d have no chance, but luckily I have dark hair and after thirty days I can just about form a visible moustache. My friends actually refer to my facial hair as the “natural Beppe” after the legend himself, Beppe di Marco (pictured below) of late-90s-Eastenders-fame. The reason is inventively because the only growth I do get forms into a natural goatee and he has one of the very best and most famous!

OK back to Movember. So at the start of the month I register, clean shave, recruit my team and share the evidence of my Movember-ready face with the world. Then for the rest of the month I work with whatever facial hair I’m given, to craft a moustache (Mo) and inevitably repel my girlfriend! I usually share weekly updates on Linkedin and Facebook to demonstrate my progress, and towards the end of the month when I have something more worthy, I kindly ask for donations for this great cause. Over the years I’ve also been to Movember fundraising events, and in 2018, I rowed across the Channel (the distance, but on a machine in a gym!) with friends from Samsung...

So something that started out as a bit of fun is now an annual event for me. I do regularly give to other charities that are also close to my heart, but Movember is my big push of the year. I just really care about the causes. Generally men are pretty useless at identifying and raising problems, whether they be physical or mental, and Movember is a great opportunity to remind men to look after themselves and talk about things that they might have sat on all year. I’m particularly happy to have seen the mental health focus of Movember grow over the years. So all in all, I think an ugly moustache and/or a bit of extra exercise for a month is really worthwhile! Hopefully this might encourage you to check yourself/speak out or talk to someone about this cause and its importance.

Thanks for reading and please enjoy the gallery below of my efforts over the years! I’d be really grateful if you would share the word of this great cause and any donations (even a pound/dollar) would be incredible, thank you.

Have a good day!