Movember is an annual event every November to raise awareness for men’s health, including men’s mental health, prostate and testicular cancer, and suicide prevention.
As part of Movember, there is a university specific campaign called The Big Moustache on Campus which Stirling takes part in. This involves students growing moustaches and getting active to raise money for charity. The University of Stirling is currently ranked 6th in the UK, and 1st in Scotland for the amount of money raised. Stirling’s target was £40,000 and currently we sit at £41,150 (a University of Stirling record) with a week left in Movember.
Brig spoke to Sports Union President, Laura Shaw, about this year’s Movember efforts. Laura commented that “clubs always surprise [her], with how unique some of their fundraisers get.” She went on to add that of this year’s fundraisers, “one that I’m particularly proud of, especially for the effort they put into it, was the ceilidh. They have raised just under £5000 from that event alone,… they sold out 300 tickets in 12 hours and they organised it all themselves, so really proud of them.”
Laura also discussed that a lesser seen benefit of Movember is that it brings people together. It also connects clubs that haven’t previously interacted, and you never know what those relationships could bring to the table – “I think it’s really great the way that the clubs come together and provide that support for one another”.
When asked what impact Movember has had on campus, Laura highlighted that she thinks “more students have definitely felt like they can talk about their mental health on campus… It’s a nice community where people that may have previously kept things private feel more open to talking about things.”
The University of Stirling is doing tremendously well in the Movember rankings, Laura attributes a lot of this success to Stirling being a campus university. “You see everyone everyday, but I think it is also easier to base challenges around campus.” She also mentioned that “staff have been really supportive in helping facilitate these challenges, which has made it a lot easier to achieve these goals.” Ultimately, it comes down to the community that exists within Stirling – “external visitors have commented that they love the communities within our union, and that’s just not seen to such a strong extent at other universities… I think there is something special in that community.”
Laura finished by expressing her gratitude to everyone that has taken part in Movember this year: “I’m just incredibly proud of everything that Paddy and Archie have done. They’ve been brilliant to work with, and I think they’ve achieved some pretty amazing things, and I’m just really proud of the entire committee for everything that they’ve managed to pull together so far.”
Image Credit: University of Stirling Sports Union
Student journalist and Sports Editor for Brig Newspaper
