A team of nine teachers from Lawn Manor Academy have smashed their fundraising target and raised over £1200 for men’s health issues.
The Lawn Manor Moustache Men took part in Movember, a fundraising month that raises awareness of prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s mental health. Teachers Dan Maller, Marek Koza, Lee Horsford, Andy Bull, Dan Jacklin, Mike Wilson, Darren Beacher, Mark Oliver and Keith Horan, all took part in the challenge, which saw them spend the month growing the best moustache.
Pupils from across the school also got involved, with tutor sessions on the health issues and on the importance of mental health support, as well as weekly votes on who’s growing the best moustache.
The result of the final Movember vote saw Andy Bull crowned as having the best Lawn Manor Mo, closely followed by Mark Oliver and, in joint third place, Lee Horsford and Dan Maller.
Captain of the Lawn Manor Moustache Men team, PE Teacher Dan Maller said: “It’s been fantastic to have not only met our fundraising target but to have exceeded it by so much. We initially aimed to raise £250 but now we’ve raised £1288.
“I’ve supported Movember for the past six years and this year saw it as a great opportunity to not only raise money and awareness for such an important issue, but also to challenge colleagues and use it as a leaning opportunity for the pupils too. Men’s mental health and cancer are issues that I really believe we need to do more about and are not spoken about enough, so by focusing on Movember across the school we can do so much more for the cause.
“As soon as we decided to make it a school project we knew we had to make it a competition and involve the pupils as much as possible. We started by teaching the pupils about Movember and the issues it tackles, so that they could understand what we were doing and why it is so important. Throughout the month everyone has been kept up to date with the team’s progress and it has culminated in the student vote for first, second and third place.
“We wanted to make sure that there was an educational aspect as well as a charitable aim, so that we made the best possible impact with what we were doing. It’s great to think that when our pupils leave us and go into their jobs, part of their reason for their career choices might have something to do with what they’ve learnt through Movember.”
To support the Lawn Manor Moustache Men visit the Movember website.
