The DLDs do Movember!

By Scott Jackson, Digital Learning Developer, UEBS.

It’s November, and for many people around the country that means a month of dodgy moustaches and limbs aching from running. Globally, on average, one man dies by suicide every minute, meanwhile over one million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer annually. Every year, Movember swings into action on November 1st with the aim of tackling these two issues, with people growing moustaches, shaving heads or “moving for mo”, all with the sole aim of raising money for a good cause.

Last year the University of Exeter raised nearly £90,000 for Movember, the highest total by any university in the country. To put that amazing achievement into context, the University of Oxford came in second place with £40,000. Groups of people can come together in teams to fundraise and I took part with the other members of the Touch Rugby society, you can see the rather questionable results below…

Remote working can be lonely at times, coming in to the role I was worried I would feel isolated and that I would struggle to build the bonds which come much more naturally in an office. And yet, despite having never actually met in person, we’ve struck up a real bond as a team. There are fantastic online tools out there which can help you feel connected with people, and as a group we make a real effort to virtually socialise as best we can. We realise not everybody is as lucky as we are, and many people may be struggling with their mental health working from home and away from friends, so we wanted to do something outside of our daily work which could make a difference. Arguably, this year mental health is more important than ever, as we enter a winter lockdown it is inevitable people will struggle. With this in mind we’ve set up a Movember team for the DLDs.

We’ve set ourselves the target of £1,000 and over the course of the month myself, Bradley Hale and Louis Clement-Harris will be gradually ruining our faces with sketchy facial hair. Meanwhile the amazing Maria Georgouli Loupi, Annabel Ilic and Kate Prior will all be running/moving to raise money and support the cause. Even though there’s only six of us so far, we’re spread out all over the UK and beyond, with Team members as far abroad as Spain and Greece. This just goes to show the incredible power Movember has to bring people together, and even in these strange times where working together in a physical office is impossible, colleagues can still come together for a good cause.

As the month goes on we’ll be posting updates of our moustaches and the distance we’ve managed to cover, plus we might even see if we can host some sort of virtual charity event. In the meantime, you can check out our Movember fundraising page where you can keep an eye on what we’re up to and donate if you wish.

 

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