Movember

John Aldridge, Tom Sellick, Jack Branigan, Charlie Chaplin, Ian Rush and Salvador Dali. What do these illustrious men have in common? Answer: they all wore an impressive moustache. Well this November they were joined by Mr. John Flanagan, Mr. Kieran Gallagher, Mr. Brian Halpin, Mr. Shaun Cummiskey and Mr.Daragh Mc Keon of De La Salle College Dundalk. The facially hirsute quintet all grew moustaches for Movember, an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men's health issues, specifically prostate cancer.

Mo Bros start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking advertisement for men's health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember's men's health partner - Action Prostate Cancer, Irish Cancer Society.

The idea for Movember came about in 2003 when a few mates were having a beer in a small bar in Melbourne, Australia. Inspired by the women's health movement, it was recognized that men were lacking a way to engage and actively involve themselves in their own health. During a conversation about fashion and past trends, the idea came up to bring the moustache back for one month, and in doing so, have some fun, raise a small amount of money and hopefully encourage men to talk about their health with each other.

Since this time, Movember has continued to grow each year, both in terms of participation numbers and funds raised. In its first year, 30 Mo Bros took part in Movember and last year, across the globe more than 173,000 Mo Bro and Sistas got on board, raising more than €14 million across the Movember's men's health partners gloabally.

On Friday 20th November the students of De La Salle College Dundalk showed their support to their Mo Bro teachers by contributing two euro each in exchange for the privilege of a non-uniform day. Some even sported some suspect looking 'fake tashes'. The impressive sum of € 1600 was raised by staff and students. Mr John Flanagan, the driving force behind Movember in the De La Salle was delighted with the response from the students and staff in support of this worthy cause.