November in St Andrews features freezing temperatures and the stress of deadlines, but also incredible moustaches. ‘Movember’ is a very popular charity for the University, evidenced in successful events such as MoDarts, the 24-Hour Race and MoBall. All donations go towards improving men’s mental and physical health, and Movember have done incredible work over the last 20 years.

Movember started out as many great ideas do... at the pub. Let me set the scene. Australia, 2003, two mates having a beer together and began jokingly discussing the moustache. Travis Garone and Luke Slattery realised that amongst fashion trends, with all recurring outfits, hairstyles and facial hair, the moustache never made a reappearance. Inspired by a friend fundraising for breast cancer, they decided to focus on an idea aimed to help with men’s health and prostate cancer. 30other men joined them in fundraising money for their goal and this success led them to create a company name and website. Movember was born. Through 2004 and 2005 they continued supporting various charities in support of men’s health, including the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). In 2004, 450 Mo Bros raised AUD 54,000. Spain and the UK also joined the campaign. Growth was rapid. In 2005, 9,315 Mo Bros raised AUD 1.2 million. All these funds went to the PCFA. As research continued, men’s mental health was foregrounded in healthdiscussions, so the charity began funding research into projects to help this. In 2007, 4 years after Movember’s conception, AUD 21 million was raised between Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Spain and the UK with almost 135,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sisters. At present there are 21 countries with official campaigns and more than AUD 730 million to fund over 1,000 men’s health programs.

Movember has developed four key men’s health issues: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health and physical inactivity. Men will live on average 4 years less than women and there is no physiological reason for this, therefore, the key issues have been identified to help deal with this in the most significant way. At St Andrews, most people see the moustache and understand Movember as a charity for men’s mental health, where in reality the truth is much more than that. Men’s mental health is certainly one of the most significant aspects; one man will kill himself every 60 seconds globally and men are also responsible for 69% of all suicides.

Raising money to fund the projects is one thing, however, raising awareness and creating a culture where men feel more comfortable dealing with their health in a more sustainable way is just as important an aspect of Movember. One of the most pressing issues surrounding men’s health is the tendency for men to avoid seeking help or assuming an issue will sort itself out. At St Andrews we are all provided the information with which you can be seen by local NHS, and students need to understand if they find a lump or have a health issue they are concerned about, they need to get it checked before it turns into a significant health problem. 

As Student Ambassadors for the University, Patrick McLaughlin and I travelled down to London to spend a day training with other Student Ambassadors on how best to run the campaign at the University of St Andrews. This day involved talks about the origins and importance of Movember, talks from Community Ambassadors about their experiences and advice on how to run a successful fundraising campaign. However, for us, the most enjoyable part of the day was meeting others with similar responsibilities and having conducive discussion together. When we returned, we got to setting up our committee. Bilal Hasan was our first member as head of committee and has since helped us keep the committee organised and on task. Rosie Griste was largely responsible for the success of the 24-hour race and John Paterson took charge on MoDarts, two events which raised over £800 between them and were a huge success in raising awareness for Movember. 

Paddy and I have loved running the 2024 Movember campaign. We hope we have been able to raise awareness for Movember as more than just an opportunity to grow an awesome moustache, but also a chance for people to open up and take charge of their health. We hope that Movemberwill grow to become a core aspect of the University, where people will discuss the movement in lectures and daily life. Most importantly though, we want to establish men’s health as something that is not just for the month of November, but something to focus on year-round.

As of Wednesday 27th November, we have hit £20,000 raised from the University, however, we still have until 9th December to continue fundraising, so please think about donating to your society, sports teams, or friends taking part. 

Sources:

https://uk.movember.com/?home