DSU’s sports squads have clubbed together to raise thousands of pounds for a men’s health charity.
De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU)’s sports squads have clubbed together to raise thousands of pounds for a men’s health charity.
Men’s Rugby, Cricket, Men’s Football and Squash – plus plenty of others – have been raising money (and ditching their razors) over the last month for Movember, the annual charity event which highlights awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and male suicide through fundraising and the growing of moustaches.
Guy Bill, Chair of Men’s Rugby, explained that the club have backed the international campaign for many years.
“We start off with everyone in the rugby club,” he said. “Everyone has to have a page on the Movember website, and they need to raise at least £20.
“For the final two weeks, we’ve had a bucket collection going, with some of our members on campus looking for additional donations.”
The team also organised a karaoke night over the final weekend of November to nudge the club’s fundraising total over £4,000.
Guy continued: “In my first year [at the club], it was drilled into us that charity, and fundraising, is a huge deal. I always thought it was just a bit of a laugh, but it’s actually really important to the club.
“Individually we’ve got 55 or 60 members. Some people go above and beyond; one of our members is on £300, and that’s a valiant effort.”
Our Cricket club took part in Movember for the first time ever in 2017.
Elsewhere, the De Montfort University (DMU) Cricket club have also engaged their fundraising skills and backed the Movember campaign for the first year ever.
James Everard, the club’s Chair, said: “This is the first time that we’ve done any sort of fundraising, so we haven’t held many events, but mainly just asked friends and family to contribute whatever they can and promoted it on our social media channels.
“We’ve raised £1,607, and that’s almost double our original target. We’ve got 13 members of the club signed up – some have done slightly better than others – and pretty much everyone has got involved.”
And it’s the friendly rivalry between the club and Men’s Rugby that encouraged Cricket to get involved in 2017.
“We’re really taking after them,” James continued. “The rugby team have obviously taken part in Movember for a few years and raised quite a bit of money, but that’s something we can look at in years to come.
“We’ve got plenty more fundraising events planned for later in the year, including a charity cricket match against the rugby team coming up in the summer.”
Meanwhile, Guy said: “It’s all friendly competition. We love to see other student groups getting involved, but the total raised for charity at the end is the most important.”
But who has got the best ‘tache?
“It’s got to be Tom Weir, from our club,” Guy said. “He’s had an absolutely unbelievable effort.”
You can still contribute to both Men’s Rugby and Cricket’s totals using their pages on the Movember website.
Men's Rugby Chair Guy Bill (centre) explained the club have nudged their fundraising total over £4,000.
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