AN 11-year-old boy is taking part in Movember despite not having any facial hair – by wearing stick on moustaches every day for the next month.
Ben Farrington from Dunbar, East Lothian, has been sporting different styles of thick, black hair underneath his nose, much to the amusement of passers-by.
He decided to raise money for the Movember Foundation – a charity dedicated to cancer and men’s physical and mental health – but wasn’t old enough to grow facial hair naturally.
So the schoolboy came up with the ingenious idea of cutting and designing new styles from fake moustaches – and has been doing so every day of the month so far.
He has taken such a liking to the style that he wears the moustaches when he goes to school, when he’s out playing on his skateboard and even when he’s in the bath.
The “boy with the moustache”, as he is known as in his hometown, wanted to do his bit for charity after being inspired by his uncle Clive who participated in Movember a couple of years ago.
The youngster said: “I’m going to be wearing a different false moustache every day to raise money for men’s health.
“I will wear my tache to school, in the bath, on the sofa, at the weekend, on my skateboard…unless it falls off in which case I will stick it on again.”
The Dunbar Primary school P7 pupil is being supported by his bearded dad, Tadg (corr), and his mother, Maggie who are both proud of the youngster’s kind hearted gesture.
Tadg said: “His uncle Clive did Movember a couple of years ago but Ben was only about 10 so wasn’t able to grow his own.
“Together they had the idea to wear false moustaches and kept it a secret for over a year.
“He was just generally interested in raising money and has had a great reception from people at his school. The primary school have even mentioned selling moustaches at the end of the month after being inspired by Ben.
“He wears a different one every day and it’s not easy as they give him minor skin rashes so he now needs to take them off at night.
“It’s started to become quite difficult to pick a new one for every day and there’s bits of moustache all over the kitchen from where he’s been customising them.
“So part of my job is to help seek out a new moustache.
“I think it’s brilliant. We thought it was such a funny thing but it’s a surprising challenge having to have something stuck on your face all day.
“He even takes a spare moustache to school in case something happens and he has a moustache emergency.
“We were at his parents evening last night and were told that one of his teachers has bought him a hipster beard to wear.”
The Movember Foundation have been raising awareness since 2004 with the aim to “change the face of men’s health”.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the UK and testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged between 25 and 49.
Men all over the world including celebrities choose to grow moustaches for the full month of November and even video games such as Football Manager 2015 have seen their virtual football players sporting one.
