This November, clubs and societies at The University of Sheffield have been taking part in Movember, an initiative founded in Australia in 2003 in aid of men’s mental health, as well as testicular and prostate cancer.
The University was aiming to go above and beyond the total that they raised last year.
During the month, societies came up with unique and exciting ways to raise money, including a football tournament, 24 hour runs/walks, bake sales, fashion shows, bingo, go-athons and quizzes.
The University of Sheffield raised £70,977 in the Movember campaign last year, with the highest raising team being Sheffield University Cricket Club with £19,534 raised.
At the time of writing, the University of Sheffield have raised over £54,000 for this year’s campaign, well surpassing the original target of £50,000. As like last year, the cricket club also lead the standings this time round as being the team that raised the most money, on £9823.84 at the time of writing with a week to go.
One of the ways the Cricket Club raised funds was through a 24-hour run. This saw members of the club take on an hour-long ‘leg’ before handing over to the next team to run for the next hour. This continued all through the night, and culminated at The Ball in Crookes.
The club also held a Movember Quiz that saw teams pay to enter in hope of winning a variety of prizes. This event was well attended and raised £450 alone. Aside from that the club ran a 24 hour one hand one bounce game and a charity hike in The Peaks.
Thabo Mapetla, the club’s charity secretary, said: “All the lads have got involved this month which is really good, both for men’s mental health and in raising awareness for this brilliant charity.”
Gareth Lee from the UOS Movember campaign said: “Cricket have led by example and have really impressed us with their fundraising and activeness to do their bit for Movember.”
Although Cricket are leading the rankings, they are followed closely by Sheffield Engineers Rugby, so it’s set for a close finish as we approach the end of the month.
Another event that raised plenty of funds for the Movember campaign was a Charity Football tournament, co-organised by the University of Sheffield Men’s and Women’s Football teams. 16 mixed-gendered teams with mixed abilities took part in the tournament, an increase from the total at this year’s fundraiser.
Under the Lights FC claimed victory of the whole tournament, after a close final against ManSoc, which saw the team win by two goals in what was a 2-0 final score.
There was also a chance for attendees to take part in a penalty shootout during the day.
That same evening, a charity Bingo night was also held by the two clubs in a joint social at Steinhaus on West Street. Over £650 was raised from the tournament and £275 raised from the bingo event in the evening, meaning a total of over £900 was raised on one day by the two university football clubs.
Mia Brown, club captain of the University of Sheffield Women’s Football Club and co-organiser of the events said: “The Movember tournament was so important for us, it it raises so much money and awareness for such an incredible and important cause, it was a great day for so many people to come together and play football’.
The month of November also sees people attempt to grow a moustache in aid of Movember. Many individuals across campus can be seen growing moustaches, with a varying degree of success.
Finn Harrison, from the University of Sheffield’s Movember campaign, said: “It’s been absolutely amazing to see the university come together to run some incredible events this year, all in the name of a fantastic cause.”
This money raised from the University of Sheffield Movember campaign will be split between a number of charities and campaigns including Testicular Cancer Research Projects, Ahead of the Game and The Real Face of Men’s Health’ Report.
