Aughintober goes AughinMOber for charity

Castlecaulfield, Northern Ireland’s favourite pipe band is renaming itself “AughinMOber” during November, as the Grade 2 Aughintober has joined the worldwide Movember drive to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues by letting their facial hair grow – and they’re encouraging members of other bands to join them for the month.

“We’re rebranding as the AughinMOber Pipe Band for one month,” said Glenn Ferry of Aughintober. “There is no cap on the number of guest players and no hefty transfer fees! The more people who join us the better chance we have to raise some cash.”

The band has created a sponsor page with the official Movember effort, where supporters can make a pledge or join the cause.

Movember was started in 1999 by a group of friends in Adelaide, Australia, who had the idea to grow mustaches in November to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other male cancer and associated charities.

Aughintober has even spoofed its own logo to celebrate their AughinMOber effort.

Ferry added that the band will post photos of “some fine (literally) examples of pipe band facial hair – and that’s only the girls!”/div>

Aughintober was originally an Irish flute band, but switched to being a pipe band in 1949, and did not compete until 1997. Its most successful competitive year so far was probably 2011 when it gained a prize in Grade 2 at the British Pipe Band Championships.