November has become a month associated with mental health, and men around the world have been growing moustaches as party of the Movember fundraising efforts. Several of our players and fans have gone a long way to raise awareness about mental health, and one has even run a marathon.

Moustaches are sometimes associated with film stars such as Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck and Charlie Chaplin. However, the one grown by our left-back Sean Lock has drawn comparisons with Sacha Baron-Cohen's character Borat. There are unconfirmed reports that some members of our squad thought a journalist from Kazakhstan had turned up to report on Bangor 1876 when they saw their teammate's new look.

However, there is a serious message behind the reduced amount of shaving that has been a feature of the last month for several of our players and fans. Shaun Lock told of how he participated in a group of what are now known as 'mo bros' as he and some of his friends decided to raise money for mental health charity CALM in part due to knowing someone who had been having a tough time with their mental health recently.

Shaun Lock was joined by current Bangor 1876 player Harry Jones and former 1876 colleague Dion Rhys Williams, as well as fellow local footballers Callum Hughes, Kyle Pickavance, Robbie Jones and Darren Ishmael. Bangor 1876 fan Huw Pritchard, who has also been participating, told us that the group have been regularly posting update photos of their progress and raised over £300. Anyone who wishes to support this team of moustache-growers can do so by making a donation via this Facebook Pay link.

Another 1876 player who has been sporting a moustache recently is Ben Owen. The midfielder explained that he got together with several friends to participate in Movember, and enjoyed doing so as he is "finally able to grow a decent moustache after years of trying". He added that "at the end of the day, it's all for a good cause and hopefully we can all help thanks to the generous donations received, and continue to raise awareness".

Fellow midfielder Luke Steele has literally gone a long way for Movember this month. Along with several other student athletes from Bangor University, he completed a hilly 26.2 mile run last weekend. He recently explained his reasons for participating:

"I took part because I feel that not enough is done in terms of men's mental health and I feel that there's still a big stigma surrounding the subject. So I felt that the 'grow a mo, help a bro' campaign by Movember was a perfect opportunity to raise money and awareness."

During this month, Luke has run over 100km also dyed his hair blond as part of Movember. If you would like to support his fundraising efforts, you can do so via his 'Mo Space' on the Movember website.

We'll soon be adding a 'moustaches in football' quiz on our website. We were going to post it at the same time as this article but we've decided to shave it for later, so watch this space...

Relevant links
- To find out more about Movember: https://uk.movember.com
- Find out more about CALM (Campaign against living miserably): https://www.thecalmzone.net/
- Read our recent interview with Gary Souter about his research on mental health and football: https://www.bangor1876.com/news/mental-health-in-football-2586180.html
- Read our Fan Focus Friday interview with Becky Williams in which she discusses football, community and mental health: https://www.bangor1876.com/news/fan-focus-friday-becky-williams-2586793.html