The long and the shorts of it to support male cancer charity

SHORTS and long socks are all the rage this week for Male Uprising Guernsey’s annual fundraiser.

Perfect weather for the start of Bermuda Shorts Week, sponsored by Butterfield Bank – which has its head office in Bermuda. The aim is to raise money for cancer awareness charity Male Uprising Guernsey. (Picture by Chris George Photography)

Bermuda Shorts Week kicked off yesterday with a breakfast event at The Boathouse.

Almost 400 people are taking part, raising money for the charity and awareness of cancer.

MUG is focused on increasing awareness, promoting education and helping those affected by prostate, bowel and testicular cancer.

Its latest initiative is to raise awareness in young people about the dangers of skin cancer and donate sun cream dispensers to all schools in the Bailiwick.

MUG council member Mike Richards said wearing Bermuda-style shorts and long socks was a great conversation starter to get people talking about the charity’s aims.

‘Today’s event is raising money so that MUG can supply sun cream to all of the schools in the Bailiwick,’ Mr Richards said.

‘Guernsey has a higher rate of skin cancer than Jersey and the other islands and we need to do something about that, starting with educating the next generations.’

Butterfield Bank has sponsored MUG’s Bermuda Shorts Week events for the past five years.

‘Our head office is in Bermuda, so this was a natural fit for us,’ said marketing manager Claire Heaume. ‘MUG is doing great work to raise awareness of how important sunscreen is in reducing the risk of skin cancer, so we’re really pleased to support them.’

Butterfield Bank provided the socks for people to wear and the money raised from people taking part in Bermuda Shorts Week went towards funding the sun cream and dispensers.

Last week Creasey’s hosted a launch event and yesterday took a rail down to the Boathouse for people to up their shorts game while they enjoyed bacon sandwiches and coffee.

To take part in Bermuda Shorts Week, participants must pay a registration fee that goes towards providing a continued supply of sun cream to local schools and education about the risk of sun exposure. The charity is hoping to reach its £10,000 fundraising target by getting 500 men and women signed up to the initiative, through an individual sign-up fee of £20 or via a corporate sign-up fee of £250.

Schools that do not have sun cream dispensers can contact Mug via its website, https://mug.gg, to request one.