Two University of Portsmouth students raise money for Movember

John Cook and Tom Duck, both 20, have taken part in Movember before, but this year they decided to do something different and set themselves a challenge, by swimming in the sea every day for the month of November.

Each day, they swam in the sea for as many minutes as it was the date and on November 30, they took the plunge and swam for the full 30 minutes, and were joined by some of their friends for the achievement.

The pair, who both attend the University of Portsmouth, have managed to raise approximately £500, but are hoping for more donations to come through in order to help the men struggling.

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Tom said: ‘This year, we wanted to do something quite challenging and it was actually John that suggested we swim in the sea every day and we just thought about slightly increasing it every day until day 30. We just thought about doing something that is a bit of a struggle, like the men that are going through daily struggles.

‘The full 30 minutes was quite enjoyable because we knew at that point that it was the end of it and we had some friends come with us and that was also enjoyable seeing them struggle with it while we had become quite conditioned to it.’

The pair are hoping to continue the cold water swimming, and they would like to do something different next year to support the charity again.

Movember started almost 20 years ago in Australia when two friends decided to have a go at growing moustaches and raise money for charity, initially a prostate cancer help group.

The idea grew and over the last two decades the organisation has widened its remit to include all men’s health issues including mental health and suicide prevention, other cancers and diseases, and also looking at how men can reach health advice to maintain good health rather than focus on dealing with poor health. So far more than 1,250 men’s health projects have been funded, and the fundraising now extends beyond growing facial hair.