A NORTH Kerry publican who has sported his signature beard for over 45 years has pledged to face the chop in support of cancer support charity, Recovery Haven Kerry.

Well known Ardfert pub owner Eamon Kirby has become one of the first ‘victims’ of Recovery Haven’s 2019 Movember Challenge which aims to encourage the men of Kerry to shave their beards and moustaches at the end of November to help raise awareness of men’s health issues, in particular prostate and testicular cancer.

Eamon said he was delighted to be able to do anything he could for such a great cause.

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Last year, over 160 men across the Kingdom took part in Recovery Haven’s inaugural Movember challenge and raised a staggering €35,000 for the charity. This year, organisers are hoping to break that record and are now putting the call out to men across the Kerry to sign up.

Recovery Haven PR & Marketing officer Marisa Reidy said that having someone like Eamon pledge his support to the cause is the ideal way to kickstart their call to arms, adding that a number of Eamon’s fellow publicans across the county have since got in touch to confirm they too would be hosting shave off events in their premises and would be encouraging their customers to sign up.

She explained that the charity is calling on individuals, businesses, clubs, pubs and other groups across Kerry to come together and support the cause by signing up to the official shave off which takes at The Rose Hotel on Wednesday, November 27th.

However, she insisted that larger groups are also welcome to host their own events at a date of their choice in November, which is what many pubs are already planning.

“We were genuinely bowled over last year by the support we received from the men of Kerry and we are really hoping to go one better this year, so we can’t thank Eamon enough for kick starting this year’s campaign,” Marisa said.

“Recovery Haven needs an average of €180,000 annually to keep our doors open and with no State funding available, we rely fully on fundraising events such as this to reach such a challenging goal. We believe that the potential of our 2019 Movember Challenge is huge, but as with any fundraising event, we rely fully on the support of the local community to make it happen, so for that reason we would love the men of Kerry to come on board.”

Anyone wishing to sign up for this year’s Movember Challenge is asked to contact Recovery Haven on 0667192122 or email: marisa@recoveryhavenkerry.com to register and secure their sponsorship card.