Employees help change the face of men’s health by supporting the month-long “Movember” sponsored moustache-growing campaign

London, 28 October 2009: Sharp employees are getting set to become official citizens of “Movember”, the global sponsored moustache-growing event, to help raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity in the UK.

The ‘Mo’ (Australian slang for a moustache) growing phenomenon is a charity initiative held each year during November that aims to change the face of men’s health by helping to raise awareness of prostate cancer around the world.

Male members of staff at Sharp, or ‘Mo Bros’, will start the month formerly known as November clean-shaven and gain sponsorship to grow their own Tom Selleck or Borat-style moustaches, willed on by female colleagues, or ‘Mo Sistas’.

Today Sharp’s moustache-growing fundraisers will be having their last clean shave from skincare specialist Dermalogica who are visiting the company’s UK head office in Uxbridge to hold a special Mo’s Moustache Emporium.

Paul Molyneux, MD Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd, said: “We have already raised £50,000 for The Prostate Cancer Charity so far this year and I am confident that our participation in the Movember campaign will help get us even closer to reaching our £100,000 fundraising target. Our magnificent Mo Bro’s will soon be clean shaven, supported by our Mo Sista’s,  and ready to donate their faces, time and fundraising abilities to help spread awareness of this worthy cause.”

John Neate, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity said:  “We are hugely proud to be the official partner of Movember in the UK. This is our largest fundraising event and last year it generated £2.4 million and raised awareness of prostate cancer in hundreds of thousands of people touched by the campaign. Here’s to an even more successful Movember 2009.”

Movember began in Australia in 2003. By 2008, the campaign went global and a total of £30 million has been raised for prostate cancer charities since the foundation started. For more information please visit: http://www.movember.com/.

Every year nearly 35,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men; every hour at least one man dies from the disease in the UK alone. For more information please visit http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/.

The Sharp4Prostate fundraising pledge sees Sharp’s employees aiming to raise a minimum of £100,000 for The Prostate Cancer Charity. As part of this, a group led by Paul Molyneux will set off on the Race Across America (RAAM), an extreme cycle race from the West coast to the East coast (which is 30% longer than the Tour de France) in June 2010, taking in 14 states in just seven days – 430 miles a day and climbing to heights of over 100,000 feet. For more information please visit: www.sharp4prostate.org.

Paul Molyneux (Sharp MD) and Lisa from The Prostate Cancer Charity

Another fantastic Fiscal KickOff Event for Sharp staff

139 would be ‘Jenson Buttons’ arrived at the Daytona Karting Circuit at Sandown Park Race Course on an overcast Thursday morning. After registering, everyone tucked into very welcoming bacon rolls, eyes fixed on the tarmac and dreaming of victory. Sharps close association with the Prostate Cancer Charity was in evidence as Lisa Clark from the charity brought four colleagues to take part in the day. There were also two members of the 2010 RAAM Team (Race Across America), Mark and Hugo, who in 2010 will be part of a fourteen member team helping four cyclists to race from the west coast to the East coast raising more funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity.

The 139 drivers were split into 14 teams, with each team divided into an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team, with one Kart at their disposal each. The main event would be a 2.5hr endurance race, with the winning team being the one whose two karts completed the most laps during the given time.

After the safety briefings practise and qualifying began. Over-enthusiasm coupled with inexperience provided the expected shunts and spins as the drivers battled to keep their Karts on the tarmac. Inevitably the safety tyres saw some action as Raksha Patel mistook the pit lane for part of the race track – an impressive crash but thankfully she was OK! After everyone had a feel for the Karts each team had to select one driver to go into the qualifying session and fight to get a good place on the grid. Team 6 blocked out the front row due to the efforts of Matthew van Gessel and Paul Hide, followed by team 13 on row two.

The smell of the Fish & Chips were irresistible as everyone hurried to get his or her lunch finished before the race started. The drivers took to the grid, the chequered flag went down and the 2.5hr endurance race was underway. A hard battle ensued with some quick times being posted by Dean Griffin and Gavin Brown (team 13), both of whom benefited when Matthew van Gessel, leading for Team 6a, encountered a black flag for ‘contact’. Team 13 now had two cars in the top 5.

The weather was holding but rain was predicted during the last 15 minutes of the race. Matthew was sent out once more to make amends for his earlier bad behaviour and duly managed to steer the Team 6a kart across the line in the lead, followed by team 13a and 13b in 2nd and 3rd and the Team 6b kart in 4th. After 2.5hrs the gruelling race was over and team 13 secured an overall win on aggregated times.

The race itself may have been over but the Pit Lane Challenge Quiz and the Model making competition still had to be judged would they make a difference to the overall placings? The Model Making Competition was won by team 3 thanks to modelling expert Tom Primett whose hours of ‘sticking things together in his bedroom’ finally paid off, earning his team 10pts. The Quiz was a close run thing with teams 2, 11 and 13 all getting an extra 10pts for their teams.

FINAL TEAM PLACINGS:
1. Team 13 total laps completed 306 + 10 for the Quiz =316
2. Team 6 total laps completed 305
3. Team 3 total laps completed 292 + 10 for the Model Making =302
4. Team 2 total laps completed 290 + 10 for the Quiz =300
5. Team 7 total laps completed 297
6. Team 14 total laps completed 296
7. Team 11 total laps completed 281 + 10 for the Quiz =291
8. Team 12 total laps completed 289
9. Team 8 total laps completed 287
10. Team 4 total laps completed 284
11. Team 9 total laps completed 282
12. Team 1 total laps completed 277
13. Team 5 total laps completed 276
14. Team 10 total laps completed 275

The Model Making winners shot up from 5th to 3rd place so well done Tom!

Once several beers had been consumed and race results collated it was time for the Prize giving. Before any of the Race prizes were given out I had a very special presentation to give to Lisa Clark from The Prostate Cancer Charity, a cheque for a magnificent £50,000 raised by the efforts of everyone at Sharp UK . Well done to everyone who has given their time and effort – FANTASTIC! Of course we are only half way and by next June hope to write another cheque for £50K.

The Nelson Piquet Award had to go to Raksha for her tyre eating endeavours, and was awarded with the Crash DVD!! The Schumacher Award went to the super slick Dutchman Matthew van Gessel for scoring fastest lap, and the Jeremy Clarkson Award for crap driving went to Paul Randall. (Bob…. Make sure he’s looking after his company car!!)

It was another great Kick Off Event with everyone having a great day and keeping our focus not only on the next Fiscal, but also on our chosen charity

Photos available from the Gallery.

Paul