HUNDREDS of men in Oxfordshire will grow moustaches for the next 30 days to raise money for Movember.

The annual month-long campaign aims to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancers by asking men to sprout a sponsored moustache and donate the proceeds to support research into the conditions.

One man who will be shirking shaving is Tony Jones, from Stratton Audley, near Bicester, who was diagnosed with penile cancer in July.

He said: “It was a hell of a shock, and a horrible thing to go through – a nightmare.

“The doctors were brilliant, so knowledgeable. It’s such a specialist cancer that one doctor deals with only that, about 400 cases a year.”

Mr Jones, 49, had a successful operation and was given the all-clear just two weeks ago.

He advertised for recruits to “Tache-on Audley”, and got a big response.

“It’s amazing how all the boys have got together for it,” said Mr Jones. “We have had 82 people sign up.”

They are aiming to raise £10,000 in sponsorship.

At the end of the month the village’s Red Lion pub will host a competition to judge the best and the worst moustaches.

In Abingdon, at the King’s Head & Bell, landlord Steve Hipgrave has corralled his staff into taking part. He said: “We have a lot of guys behind the bar and in the kitchen, so it will be quite easy to come up with a variety of moustaches.”

He added: “In the past 10 years there has been a change in what’s taboo. Now you have footballers promoting men’s health, and something like this puts it in the public eye.”

Movember was first held in the Australian city of Melbourne in 2003. Last year 854,000 joined in worldwide and raised £79.3m.

The rules are strict: each man must be clean shaven at the beginning of the month and the moustache must be a distinct entity, not connected to sideburns or a beard.

Alan Studholme, 56, and five colleagues at Elsevier scientific publishing, in Kidlington, plan to cultivate sponsored lip decorations.

Mr Studholme said: “We raised £600 last year, so this year we’re hoping to raise at least £1,000.

“We all need to have a blank canvas, there are no false starts.”

He added: “I’m old enough to remember when it was fashionable, so I haven’t got any problem with it.”

For more details of the campaign, see uk.movember.com