The ARCHIE Foundation’s Annual Beards for Bairns Campaign is Back Again

The ARCHIE Foundation’s annual Beards for Bairns campaign is back again – and St Johnstone FC are once again lending their support, raising money for the local charity’s Tayside Children’s Hospital appeal.

ARCHIE Tayside is asking supporters to nominate husbands, partners, brothers, dads, uncles, cousins and friends to grow a beard from Christmas Day until Burns Night on January 25th.

Last year St Johnstone signed up a team for Beards for Bairns – including manager Tommy Wright, team doctor Michael Reidy and Head Physiotherapist Tony Tompos – and they raised £2000 for ARCHIE’S £2m appeal for a new twin operating theatre suite for the children’s hospital at Ninewells in Dundee.

Manager Tommy Wright said ‘We’re proud to support The ARCHIE Foundation’s Beards for Bairns campaign. Children from across Perth and Kinross visit Tayside Children’s Hospital and so the new operating theatres will make a difference to them and their families.

‘The team had good fun last year growing their beards for a month and got a lot of encouragement and sponsorship from friends, family and supporters. We’d encourage everyone to get involved this year too – by growing a beard or nominating someone else!’

Head of Fundraising Emma White said: ‘We’re really grateful for the incredible support we’ve received from St Johnstone FC over the last few years. Having them involved has helped us sign up lots more people and we hope this year will be even better.

‘It’s not just for the guys either, this year we’re looking to get as many women and children involved too. They might not be able to grow their own beards, but they can enlist someone who can with our new Nominate a Mate campaign.’

‘This year’s flyer even has 12 styles of beard to help inspire you. You can tick the style that you’d like your nominee to grow. If they accept your nomination, we ask that you donate £10 to their fundraising efforts. If they turn you down, you can ask them to donate £10 to ARCHIE as a forfeit.

All the money raised by Beards for Bairns will go to The ARCHIE Foundation’s £2 million appeal to help fund a new twin surgical operating theatre suite at the children’s hospital in Ninewells, Dundee.

To register, simply text ARCHIE to 70660 (standard network rates apply), visit www.beardsforbairns.org.uk or call 01382 496203

The flyers can be downloaded at www.beardsforbairns.org.uk or you can nominate a mate publicly by liking the Facebook page and sharing or tagging the Beards for Bairns posts @archietayside and don’t forget to share your progress on the page too, or on Instagram @thearchiefoundation and Twitter @ARCHIEtayside with the hashtags #beardsforbairns #nominateamate #beardbingo