WE ARE calling on your readers to help us harness the power of the beard to take on bowel cancer this Christmas.

If you are willing to go grizzly throughout December, dye or decorate your existing face fur or hold a ‘beardy’ event in the office over the festive period, please join our hairy band of brothers taking on bowel cancer beard by beard.

Beating Bowel Cancer’s Decembeard campaign asks men to grow or decorate their beard to raise funds for the charity.

This will help us support bowel cancer patients and raise awareness of the disease, its symptoms and the need for early diagnosis.

It is a fun, festive campaign in aid of a serious cause.

Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.

Each year in the UK more than 40,000 people are diagnosed with the disease and 16,000 die from it.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Ninety per cent of those diagnosed at an early stage can be successfully treated.

Please sign up today at Decembeard.org.

Charlotte Dawson Head nurse for Beating Bowel Cancer’s Helpline