Did you notice an increase in the amount of wispy, huge, or even ridiculous upper lip growths last month? No you're not going mad and there is no conspiracy, it's purely a fabulous marriage between men raising awareness, money and fulfilling some secret silly facial-haired whim. If you haven't come across the word Movember before, don't worry, we haven't forgot how to spell at Plusnet. Movember combines the words moustache and November and is not just a cheeky play on words.
What's Movember all about?
Movember is already in it's 7th year of participation from Australia and New Zealand incorporating contributions from Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States since 2007. Movember was originally created in Australia in 2003 with the goal of 30 men growing their facial hair for 30 days to draw attention to men's cancers, focusing on prostate cancer and depression in men. Raising awareness is the most important message for the month long event, but the beauty of this is that a great amount of fun can be had to achieve this level of awareness.
Plusnet's contribution to Movember
Here at Plusnet we had quite a number of participants this year. Most of us had already decided to do this but we soon realised how many other colleagues were also ready to take part in the festivities and it was an easy decision to cheer each other on in our efforts, however big, small or just sheer embarrassing! I think we all hoped that we were able to grown an impressive, bewhiskered, iconic lip adornment, but secretly hoped that there was a fellow Plusnet "Mo Bro" that had offerings less impressive than what we could grow in the 30 day shaveless stint. Not naming and shaming, but thank you Will for making us all feel better about our efforts, ahem. This was my first year of participation and even though I couldn't look at myself without giggling, I really enjoyed the comradery and the fact I got the opportunity to talk to new people and team up with Mo Bro's who work in the company I never got chance to speak to before. There were a few awkward moments, like being stood getting a quote for some work on my car, talking to a garage owner who seemingly wasn't aware of Movember and looked like he was internally questioning my choice of facial hair. I did look a bit like I was only growing it because I had just figured out I could grow a smidgen of facial hair....
How much was raised?
I was a team captain and my team of 10 raised £348 and the Plusnet total was well over £1200, not a shy figure for an event still in it's early years. In the UK we raised a massive £16,639,408 from just 253,179 participants, we had 100,000 more participants than the U.S. but managed to raise double the amount. The top contributor being Canada with 10,000 less contributors but raising a staggering £24,695,228. The worldwide total was a heart-warming £69,224,045.* Figures obtained from http://uk.movember.com/momoney/ So to sum up, I thoroughly recommend taking part in 2012. It's fun, it makes you feel like you are doing something that matters, it unites you with mates and even allows you a quick acknowledgement and a smirk from passers by on the street that you don't know but also look like they are on their way to a Queen tribute act audition.
Plusnet's facial hair gallery
See the rest of the pics here over on our Movember 2011 Flickr set.