A month-long moustache growing campaign for prostate cancer support is looking for more volunteers this year.
The Movember campaign, which began in Ireland five years ago, is looking for male participants to grow a moustache in aid of Action Prostate Cancer throughout November. Female participants are asked to take part too, by encouraging men to take part and support the cause.
During last year's campaign, €1.7 million was raised for the charity by over 15,000 participants. This year, it is hoped the campaign will grow even further, said country manager for Movember Ireland, Neil Rooney.
"We are very lucky that we are growing each year. Our main aim is to get people engaged and to get them talking about men's health. Growing a moustache is a real discussion starter as well and that can lead to an open discussion on prostate cancer and men's health," he said.
This year's theme is 'Movember and Sons', which Mr Rooney says is about spreading knowledge through different generations.
"We decided this year's theme would be about using knowledge to learn from past mistakes and to remember for the future to encourage people to get checked," he said. "We want to show that raising awareness can really be fun."
So far, €215 million has been raised since Movember began in Australia ten years ago, with a total of 1.9 million participants. In its first year, back in 2003, there were only 30 participants, with no money going towards charity.
To register for this year's Movember campaign, visit ie.movember.com.