While many men have been busy growing moustaches to raise money for this year’s ‘Movember’ cause, one group of school students decided to go the extra mile.
Ciaran Hanks is just one of eleven students from Wiltshire College in Trowbridge who organised an event to cycle the distance to Wembley.
The group of aspiring 17 and 18-year-olds hoped to raise awareness and funds for men’s mental health.
“It all came about because at College one of the units we are doing is sports development,” Ciaran explained.
“Our lecturer gave us the task to get people around the college to be more involved in sport and we wanted to do it for a good cause.
“We chose Movember because the majority of our course is male and we know how important men's mental health is so we wanted to help raise awareness.
“I can't speak on behalf of my other peers, but I know people who have struggled with mental health and it is something that needs to be paid more attention to. We don't want there to be a stigma (especially for men) about not speaking about their feelings," he added.
On Friday, November 17, the group of students gathered in the reception area of Wiltshire College's Trowbridge campus with an exercise bike and one mission: to cycle the 100-mile distance to Wembley Stadium.
Students of the college were invited to hop on and join the cause by cycling as much or as little as they wanted.
“We will also have a 2-minute calorie burn going on the rowing machine. We will keep a leaderboard for who has burnt the most calories and the winner may be given a piece of Movember merchandise that we have received from the charity,” said Ciaran, ahead of the event.
And while many men around the country grow facial hair to raise money for Movember, one Wiltshire College student decided the best way to fundraise would be to lose his hair.
18-year-old Bryn from Devizes volunteered to have his head shaved if the group managed to reach the target of £200, which they did with ease.
"Movember is a really good cause because it's important to raise awareness of men's health, whether that be their physical or mental health," said Bryn.
"We’d already hit the £200 target after a couple of hours, so I didn’t have much choice but to do the head shave too, but I was happy to do it as it’s all for a good cause."
In total, the students raised £355 in donations on the day, and their donation page remains open.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here