Movember Madness

By Huw Jones

Huws effort for Movember 2011

JRR Tolkein spoke of a dark shadow moving across the land in his Lord of the Rings trilogy but this November there will be a dark shadow moving across the top lip of mortal men. Movember 2012 is here.

The campaign, originally started in Australia in 2003 has two main aims:

  1. Raise awareness of men’s health issues
  2. Raise money for research into prostate and testicular cancer.

Last year the 854,288 Movember participants raised £79.3 million across 14 countries.

It’s very simply. Men grow a moustache (mo for short) throughout the month of November – hence Movember.

Here’s how it works: People see the proliferation of mo’s and say “what’s that on your face?”. The explanation about raising awareness of men’s health issues and raising money for cancer research is given. Hopefully more men will take a bit more interest in their health and not put off going to the doctor to get checked out.

So now you know about it you’ll notice various styles on show for the November Rugby Internationals (should that be Movember Internationals). Even some of the premiership footballers might join in. It’s easy to get involved: just donate some money to someone who doesn’t normally have a furry top lip. Be careful though as some Mo Bros sport a mo all year round!

If you would like to donate or check out Huw’s progress over the month then go to http://mobro.co/hrjones

Money will be raised and lives will be saved. It’s obviously what JRR Tolkein had in mind with his first draft of the opening words of Lord of The Rings…

“Three Mo’s for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven Mo’s for the Dwarf-lords in halls of stone, Nine Mo’s for Mo-tal Men, doomed to die, One Mo for the Dark Lord on his dark throne in the Land of Mo-dor where the top lip shadows lie. One Mo to rule them all, One Mo to find them, One Mo to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In the Land of Mo-dor where the top lip shadows lie.”