It's .... MOVEMBER!

[scaryjim]

Yes, it is Movember, and your friendly FS mod scaryjim has indeed decided to grow a Mo and help change the face of Men's Health.

If you don't know about Movember, please go to http://uk.movember.com and learn all about it. If you want to donate and support me in my moustache-growing madness, you can find my Movember page at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/10517789, and you can sign up yourself if you want to join the madness. I'm planning to post daily selfies so you can track my progress (or lack of it ), and

The Movember Foundation, who receive the money donated through my page, are a great group that invest money in programmes targetting men's health, particularly prostate and testicular cancer and mental health. They do this by funding education, support and research projects, which means that some of the money will go to medical research. I'm aware that not everyone is willing to support medical research, for a variety of reasons, so I'm going to generously offer you another option if you want to support my fundraising efforts!

On 30th November - the last day I will have (just) a moustache - I will be doing a bike ride around some of the sights of Manchester with a few friends, taking selfies in front of places like Old Trafford, the BBC @ Media City, etc., raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support (http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Home.aspx, again if you don't know much about them go and learn!) who provide nurses and support to people affected by cancer. You can sponsor me on the ride at my Virgin Money Giving page - http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ManchesterSelfies - and if you want to nominate any famous Manchester landmarks you think we must visit, feel free to leave a comment with your donation and we'll do our best to work them in to the route.

So, if you want to support Movember's work to raise awareness of men's health issues, sponsor my Mo-growing efforts at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/10517789, and if you want to support Macmillan Cancer Support's nurses, volunteer carers and support network, sponsor the bike ride at http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ManchesterSelfies. If you want to get involved in the bike ride, PM me or post in this thread: http://forums.hexus.net/sports-fitne...de-anyone.html and I'll talk you through where we're biking and how to set up your Virgin Money Giving site and join the team.

Happy Movember everyone

[Pob255]

I hope you'll keep us updated with mug shots.

[scaryjim]

I hope you'll keep us updated with mug shots.

of course The Movember page will be getting a daily update, but I'll drop occasional ones in here too

[kalniel]

I hope you'll keep us updated with mug shots.

You've gotta be careful with that...

[Zak33]

I did Movember in 2011...

frankly.. while it grew well and I raised well... I DID look a lot like a cross between a 1960's porn star.. and a Mexican looking for his sombrero.....

good luck scary!

[scaryjim]

OK, mug shots were asked for, so here's one from today - I tried to shave the mo in a bit last night but my face does *not* like wet shaving less than about 5 days apart...


hotlinked from my Movember page: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/10517789

[Zak33]

looks like you're trying to FORCE it out... careful bud.. you might soil yaself if you push to hard

[scaryjim]

I always seem to look moody in selfies. Doesn't bode well for my selfie tour of Manchester

I always used to think my facial hair grew really quickly. Apparently I'd just never done a day-by-day comparison before.

[MrNeil]

I'm growing mine for Movember only saying that if i reach £500 i will get my chest waxed !!!
Guess what ? my two Mo Sisters have collected half already from my customer's .... Worst thing is that i also said i will get my whole body waxed minus eyebrows and head hair ( whats lefts ) if i reach £1000
On top of that im getting free workout training with Reece Ritchie's personnel trainer to get ripped in 3 weeks !! I'm going to need some kind of body to show off

[Dingo]

I always seem to look moody in selfies. Doesn't bode well for my selfie tour of Manchester

Dion't know about Moody.........looks far more Broody to me!!

I always used to think my facial hair grew really quickly. Apparently I'd just never done a day-by-day comparison before.

Quickly??!!.......My Sister grows a moustache quicker than you!!.........have not shaved for three days and already I have to get a Sheep Shearer in!!..................Drink more Beer

[sammyc]

Day 7, how's it growin'....?

(have seen the updated pics, just touting for anecdotes/trivia/random observations at the one-week mark )

[scaryjim]

Day 7, how's it growin'....?

Like this:



That was Friday afternoon. There's a more recent picture (from this morning) on my MoSpace: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/10517789 - and don't forget you can donate to the Movember foundation there too I still hate wet shaving with a passion, so I've dug out the electric razor which is helping keep things under control a bit more

I've made some progress with the bike ride too - one of the local Macmillan fundraising managers is interested in joining me. There's a twitter feed, @manchesterselfiestour, where I'll be publishing more information as I finalise the details, and remember you can sponsor me on the bike ride at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JimMcGrath - if you're a UK taxpayer don't forget to register for Gift Aid so Macmillan can reclaim an additional 25% on top of your donation. And you're all welcome to jump and your bikes and join the fun - if you can get to central Manchester on the 30th November then drop me a PM and we'll get you on the team

[scaryjim]

OK, rather than just post you a picture, I'm going to INSIST that you all go and follow @mancselfiestour on twitter. It's dead easy, just go to https://twitter.com/mancselfiestour and click the follow button Or, if you're not already on twitter, create an account, then do that.

Why? Well, today I did the route-planning ride to check everything I wanted to do would work OK, and had a great time doing it The GPS track for the finalised route is on strava here: http://www.strava.com/activities/219883178, and the twitter feed has a few selfies (and other pictures) I took while out and about. The route's extended to 18 miles now, mostly on the sustrans-maintained Fallowfield Loop, a cycle path following the route of a disused rail line through South Manchester. If you want to donate, the page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ManchesterSelfies and my mo space is at http://mobro.co/jim-mcgrath

If you don't want to give money to charity and you're in Manchester on the 30th, how about getting on the route and cheering us on? Or even better, bring some bottles of water or a flask of tea we can stop for some refreshments (and maybe get a selfie with you!). If you want to get involved in any way at all, drop me a PM.



You still want pictures?


OK, fine, one picture just to keep you all interested:

[sammyc]

Good luck for Sunday. Weather not looking too bad.. don't get the handlebars of the mo' wrapped round the, er, handlebars, will ya.