Allan McKinnon
Students at the University of Glasgow have begun to grow moustaches to raise cash for men’s health charities during the month of November.
“Movember” is when men around the world grow a moustache for a month, and get sponsored to do so. The money raised in this month is then given to charities to combat problems relating to men’s health.
This year the UK is raising money for two charities, Everyman and the Prostate Cancer Charity, which both work to raise awareness of Prostate cancer and men’s health, a subject that many people still consider to be taboo. They also raise money to help research treatments for prostate cancer, and to support those suffering from prostate cancer and their families.
Movember also aims to raise awareness of prostate cancer and men’s health. Men are four times less likely than women to visit a Doctor, and are even less likely to go if the visit may involve a prostate check. Currently Prostate cancer kills one man every hour in the UK alone. Movember intends to challenge societies’ views on Prostate cancer, and to encourage men to go for regular checkups, with the hope of reducing Prostate cancer-related deaths by 20% in ten years.
The student bodies of the University of Glasgow, the Queen Margaret Union (QMU), the Glasgow University Union (GUU), the Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA), and the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) have started a friendly competition to see which team can raise the most money for charity.
The idea for a cross-campus Movember competition began with Jim Wilson, Vice-President (Media and Communications) last year for the SRC who introduced the concept to Luke Winter, current VP media and communications. Leo Howes, President of GUSA, described how the idea developed this year.
He said; “Following strong meetings during Fresher’s week, the SRC proposed the idea, and we were all well up for it. Also this year, all four Presidents of the student bodies are men who can participate, so it was a great opportunity.” He was also keen to point out how involved the ordinary student members have been, saying that rather than the GUSA team being composed of council members, it has had a large level of participation from ordinary members, a thought that was echoed by most student bodies. Glasgow University is set to break it’s first £1,000 target.
Individual students and staff are all contributing and growing moustaches all across campus. The University has been very supportive of the participating staff and students, with even the Clerk of Senate, Professor Graham Caie donating to the groups.
Tommy Gore, President of the SRC expanded on why he thought Movember was a good method of fundraising at the University of Glasgow.
He explained: “It’s a simple way to raise awareness of a serious disease that isn’t normally high profile. It’s also a good way to put the natural competitive spirit between the four student bodies to good effect, encouraging people to raise both more money, and more awareness.”
