Accountants prepare to count the cash raised in Movember!

A group of ‘Mo Bros’ from Exeter-based chartered accountancy firm Simpkins Edwards are preparing for a particularly hairy few weeks as they raise money for men’s health programmes by taking part in ‘Movember’.

Led by Partner Adrian Hemmings, who lost his father-in-law to prostate cancer 10 years ago, the team also includes Jamie Brimblecombe, Jason Chant, Jon Dufty, Nick Feeney, Phill Hargreaves, Mark Simic, Jordan Mitchell, Antony Norman and Richard Holt who are all based at the Exeter office.

Movember is an annual international campaign which takes place each November, with the aim of raising vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer. In 2011 the UK campaign alone raised over £22 million for charities including Prostate Cancer UK and the Institute of Cancer Research, as well as other men’s health programmes.

Each Mo Bro must begin the 1st of Movember with a clean shaven face and during the rest of the month he must grow and groom a moustache that cannot be shaved off until 1 December. One of the Simpkins Edwards Mo Bros, Richard Holt, has already made a huge sacrifice, having shaved off his moustache for the first time in 40 years – in fact it is said to be the first time his wife has seen his top lip!

To make a donation to support Adrian, Richard and the Simpkins Edwards team, people can visit http://mobro.co/simpkinsedwards. “My father-in-law had an off-beat, quirky sense of humour and I think he would have very much approved of Movember,” said Adrian Hemmings. “He sadly passed away just six months after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and only a year before his first grandchild was born, so I know first hand how devastating the effects of these types of cancer can be.

Movember is a lighthearted way of raising awareness of men’s health issues but at the same time it has a very serious message and the money raised is invaluable in supporting organisations that are researching and developing new treatments as well as those supporting sufferers and their families.

We are bound to get ridiculed in the office but it will be worth it if we can raise some money, so we’d like to encourage as many people as possible to log on and donate!”