That's all folks

Well, two years after the idea first emerged to create our own Calendar Girls-style charity calendar we have wound up the fund and handed over a final cheque for £2,560.39 to the Midlands Chairman of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. In total we raised £2649.89, including donations made on our Just Giving page which went straight to the charity.

John Purser kindly travelled down from Coventry to Burton-on-Trent last night to meet as many of the Calendar Girls who could make it and take possession of the cheque.

With us were Little Theatre Company's chairman Peter Clemson and Artistic Director John Bowness - because obviously we could not have done it without them. It was their decision to stage the play Calendar Girl which inspired us to create our own calendar and raise as much as we could for the charity that is fighting to beat all blood cancers. They supported all our publicity efforts and let us launch the calendar at last September's Little Theatre Company Playathon day.

We'd also like to thank our talented photographer and calendar designer Tilley Bancroft and make-up artist Sheelagh Powell who supported us at last summer's photoshoot. Thanks also to Sara of BraSense who supported us with secret underwear during show week!

We would like to thank the people of Burton who gave to our fund so generously. We know times are hard and lots of good causes are competing for donations - so we are grateful for every penny given by the audiences who came to our show week in March 2013 as well as those who bought the calendar.

Thanks to our MP Andrew Griffiths who was quick to ask how he could help and posed for a photo with us when he bought a calendar to hang in his office at the House of Commons.

Thanks to George Gunby who sold our calendars at his Calendar Club stall in Cooper's Square in the run-up to Christmas and Pint Arts Festival who let us have a stall at their craft fair and the Burton town centre management who let us have a stand at the Christmas lights switch on.

Thanks to Sarah Spencer, who was a superbly organised treasurer, and all the other Calendar Girls who played their part in making the project a success and beating our original target of £2,500.

It's been an unforgettable experience.

WE DID IT!!!

Well, what a week we had at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent last week.

Virtually every seat was sold for Little Theatre Company's six performances of Tim Firth's play Calendar Girls and the feedback from our audiences was fabulous. They laughed, they cheered, they burst into spontaneous applause and they shed a few tears too - moved by the story of Annie and John Clarke (Matt Bancroft and Vicky Fryer) and Annie's fiesty friend Chris (Heather Ratcliffe).

But there was plenty of comedy too - from the hapless Ruth (Elaine Pritchard) and her doomed efforts to create still life with fir cones and fancy dress for the summer fete, and her mismatched badminton night with WI Chairman Marie (Carol Brown). And who will forget guest speaker Brenda Hulse (Sonja Wardle) and her talk on the history of broccoli, Lady Cravenshire (Sarah Spencer) and her ponderings on the architectural origins of Knapeley Church and of course retired schoolteacher Jessie (Bethan Waite) irate at being asked to arrange flowers for a landowner's wife and her encounter with the excruciatingly patronising beautician (Caitlin Pritchard)?

When it came to "SCENE SIX", the calendar photoshoot itself, the ladies all agreed it was less stressful in the end than managing fast backstage costume changes and remembering a host of props. Single mother and church organist Cora (Vanessa Birch) showed off a tattoo (but it was temporary) and photographer Lawrence (Daniel Tunks) had the audience in stitches as he finally realised Jessie was his old school teacher. Trophy wife Celia (Hannah Mason) stirred him to anger when she moved his carefully arranged composition of buns - leading to one of the most eagerly-anticipated lines each night (sometimes we could hear members of the audience join in with Chris to announce): "We are going to need CONSIDERABLY bigger buns".

The girls got lots of support and help in the photoshoot scene from other members of Knapeley WI - Joyce  Pike, Jodie Durbin, Jane German, Kay St Clair and Dawn White.

Finally to complete the cast we had Liam (Rob Tunley) tasked with shooting a washing powder commercial with the girls, and Rod (Mark Pearson), Chris's long-suffering husband.

But last week was also about us striving to reach our challenging target of raising £2,500 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research - and, WE DID IT!! As I write, the total on our Just Giving Page stands at £2,649.89

It was thanks to a lot of people that we made this impressive total.

...Thanks to all those who donated raffle prizes - including The Mug Tug, in Barton-under-Needwood, who also surprised cast members with specially created, hand-painted jugs at the after-show party!

...Thanks to those who staffed the raffle stall in the Brewhouse bar at each performance selling raffle tickets and taking donations for our calendars and our crochet calendar girls.

...Thanks to the audience members who gave so generously.

...Thanks to Sarah Spencer - who was the Burton Calendar Girls finance chief throughout and sat up after each performance last week counting coins and texting the latest total to the girls.

..Thanks to the cast of the UK touring production of Calendar Girls who donated an autographed calendar and other memorabilia as raffle prizes.

...Thanks, of course, to the uber-talented Tilley Bancroft of Red Door Studios whose vision for the 2013 calendar we shot last summer made it such a beautiful piece of work.

...Thanks to Sara of Bra Sense and make-up artist Sheelagh  Powell who generously gave up time and products.... and all those who sold calendars for us.

There are also many, many thank you's associated with the play itself:

• Our amazing director John Bowness 
• Soundtrack supremo Peter Clemson
• The hard-working set crew who built Knapeley Village Hall for us
• Musical director Jack Hawkins
• Karen Hailstone for continuity
• Ben Yeomans for lighting
• Katie Haywood - and the cast - for props
• Geoff Thompson for photography
• The BADAC volunteers who staffed the bar each night
• Janet Plummer and Pam Anderson for selling programmes and staffing the coffee bar
• Little Theatre Company's private and corporate patrons - who help make our productions possible
• Brewhouse box office staff who stayed calm under a deluge of phone calls trying to get last minute tickets.
• The Burton Mail for pre-show publicity.

So, the adventure is finally over. Thank you for following our blog. Our JustGiving Page will stay open until the end of March 2013 to enable any late donations to be gathered in and then we'll be organising the handover of the money to the charity which is fighting so hard to cure blood cancers.

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research has always been associated with the play since the real life calendar girls of  Yorkshire began fundraising for a settee for their local cancer ward following the death of the real John Clarke. Who could have imagined where that decision was going to lead?

Although there's such an important and serious point to the fund raising we have had so many laughs along the way with our photoshoot and last week's shows. I hope we brought a little sunshine into your life too.

Curtain up on Calendar Girls in Burton

Tonight is opening night of Little Theatre Company's production of Calendar Girls - and among the break-a-leg messages is a special one from Tim Firth who wrote the play.

You may remember we told you about Bethan Waite (who plays retired school teacher Jessie in our production) meeting Tim last October at the Frodsham Literature Festival - if you want a reminder of that story - CLICK HERE.

Well, today he's sent us a message via a mutual friend to say: "I hope they have a great week. Tell them to let me know via my website if they have time!"

So, despite last minute nerves, the girls will be stepping out bravely with a spring in their step at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent.

Pictured above: left to right: Hannah Mason as Celia, Vanessa Birch as Cora, Heather Ratcliffe as Chris, Bethan Waite as Jessie and Elaine Pritchard as Ruth.

Set up Sunday for Burton Calendar Girls

It may be Mother's Day today - but lots of the LTC ladies were only too happy to come in to The Brewhouse at Burton-on-Trent and share the excitement of creating our beautiful set and organising costumes and props for our production of Calendar Girls which runs from March 12-16.

Many hands made light work of it and most of us had a few hours off this afternoon before returning tonight for the first dress rehearsal.

Here's a shot looking down from the auditorium seats as the home of the fictional Knapeley Womens' Institute took shape on the stage.

Cora's piano is wheeled into position.

Ruth's marmalade table takes shape.

John's sunflowers really DO look lovely

Adjustments are made to the famous buns by director John

We've also been collecting some great prizes for the raffles. There will be a separate raffle at every performance with hosts of prizes including some lovely Victorian porcelain dolls, some cheeky crocheted Calendar Girl dolls and a series of vouchers offering a free 'paint-a-pot' experience for two people courtesy of Little Theatre Company patron Lesley of The Mug Tug at Barton-under-Needwood.

All the proceeds from the nightly raffle will boost our fundraising total for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Show-goers will also be able to collect a souvenir edition of our 2013 calendar in return for a donation to the fund.

Tickets have sold really well for our show, but there are some single seats left if you want to catch this heart-warming story. Ring the Brewhouse box office on 01283 508100 to check availability.

HERE COME THE GIRLS!

Two years after John told us we would be doing the play Calendar Girls - if we were 'up for it' - which led us to decide to start our own fundraising drive for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research ..... SHOW WEEK IS FINALLY HERE!!

Today we'll be at our venue, The Brewhouse, Union Street, Burton-on-Trent, organising props and dressing the set ahead of a first dress rehearsal tonight.

So, there's not much time to stay on here and blog - but I'll be back later to tell you more and maybe share some pictures of the final preparations.

Also watch out for updates and images on our Twitter feed - twitter.com/LTCCalendarGirl

Two weeks to opening night of Calendar Girls in Burton-on-Trent

So, it's now just over two weeks until opening night of our production of Calendar Girls at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent.

But it's two YEARS since we first heard that we would be staging the comedy play and came up with the idea of fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research through our own charity calendar.

This week our publicity drive got a welcome boost with a story in the Burton Mail which reminded people that there will be a raffle every night of the show's run to boost our fund raising total which currently stands at £1,386.

Among the items we will be raffling off are copies of the signed good luck messages we received from the cast of the UK touring production of Calendar Girls - including Ruth Madoc, Sue Holderness, Lesley Joseph, Kacey Ainsworth, Helen Fraser, Camilla Dallerup and many more.

Then there will also be our infamous crocheted calendar girl dolls - though if anyone wants to put in a bid to buy one of them for charity we might consider it! Our challenging target is to raise £2,500 by the end of March 2013 - and we would LOVE to make it.

Tickets for the play - which runs from March 12-March 16 - are going fast with some shows already sold out. Latest news on ticket availability can be obtained by telephoning the Brewhouse Box Office on 01283-508100. But if you are too late to get a ticket you can still pop down to the Brewhouse any night of the show and enjoy a drink at the bar and buy a raffle ticket or make a donation. Each day there will be a different raffle with winning tickets drawn during the second half of the show. Copies of our calendar - sure to be a collectors' item in future years! - can also still be acquired in return for a donation.

Thanks to the friends of LTC and the members of LTC Youth who have volunteered to sell raffle tickets in the bar each night and at the Saturday 2.30pm matinee.

If you would like to support our efforts but can't get to the Brewhouse during show week you can still donate at the Burton Calendar Girls Just Giving page

Every penny will make a difference in these last few weeks so please spread the word about us on social media - help us get more fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter.

Donate £1 by text - it's so easy

Today we've decided to take advantage of a free service that Just Giving makes available when you have a fundraising page - as we do at http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls

Vodafone - for no extra charge - allows you to set up a 'donate by text' service.

So if you can afford to give just £1 to our fund for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research you can now text "BCGS90 £1" to 70070 and VOILA! you will have automatically donated £1.

We know that everyone has to think about every £1 these days - but even if a few people can afford it, it will help us towards our very challenging target of raising £2,500 by the end of the week of our play of Calendar Girls in March.

Tickets for the play are already going fast with lots of requests coming in for group bookings - so don't delay if you want to see the girls live on stage in the brilliant, funny, sweet and sad play by Tim Firth.

Tickets can be booked in person at the box office of the Brewhouse, or by telephoning 01283-508100 or by booking online at http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/littletheatreco

Calendar Girls, the play, runs from Tuesday March 12 to Saturday March 16 at The Brewhouse, Union Street, Burton-on-Trent.

Happy New Year - from Miss January

Here's hoping that 2013 is a wonderful year for you all.

'Miss January' had a bit of a shock when she realised that she was now actually on peoples' walls! After all these months of planning and preparations since the photoshoot last summer it's still a bit of a surprise to realise it's now a reality.

If you haven't got a calendar yet - the great news is that you can now buy one for just £5 in our January sale.

Or, if you would just like to recognise our courage and support the wonderful charity that is Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research you would be very welcome to make a donation at our Just Giving page.

We are thrilled that we're now very close to raising our first £1,000 - but we have set an ambitious target of £2,500 by the time we reach the end of our show week when we perform the play Calendar Girls at the Burton Brewhouse from March 12-16.

We do have some more fundraising events planned for early 2013 and you'll hear about them here on our blog.
If you still want a calendar, email elaine@little-theatre.co.uk to arrange when and where to collect one if you are local to Burton. Or they can still be obtained by mail order if you live further afield. Find out more on our How to Buy A Calendar Page on this blog.

*You can support out Just Giving Page - it's safe and secure and the money goes straight to the charity - at http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls

Crochet your own Burton Calendar Girl

It's amazing the ideas that percolate in a dressing room when a bunch of Little Theatre Company ladies are dressed as nuns for The Sound of Music.

Maybe those wimples overheated our heads, but as we watched 'Sister Tilley' crochet backstage to pass the time between bouts of acapella four-part harmony singing in Latin the idea of crocheting our own calendar girls emerged.

Tilley (that woman's talents know NO bounds) is a crochet expert extraordinary as well as a top class animator, designer and photographer at Red Door Studios. She - remember - took ALL the photos for our beautiful calendar and designed the pages and got everything ready for the printers.

Well, she quickly whipped up a sample doll overnight.

... and she soon had a couple of friends.

Last night, at the first read through of our production of Calendar Girls the play - on at The Brewhouse, in Burton-on-Trent, in March 2013 - Tilley distributed wool, a pattern she's created and a crochet hook to all the girls to start crocheting their own calendar girls.

Watch this space for news of our progress. We hope that by March we'll have a full set of Burton Calendar Girls which we would raffle off during show week - along with the signed memorabilia from the professional cast of Calendar Girls - to raise more money to add to our funds being raised for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research

If anyone gets a bit obsessed and carried away with this craft project (YOU KNOW WHO I'M THINKING OF, GIRLS!!) then any extra dolls may be for sale in the bar during the show week. Or auctioned to the highest bidder, even!

If anyone out there who loves crafts and crocheting wants to join us, leave us a message here or on our Facebook page and I'm sure we can get you a copy of the pattern so you can join in the fun.

Now here, for the benefit of the crocheting calendar girls, are a series of video tutorials that Tilley has found time to record (I wonder if she ever sleeps?) which will help you. They are also quite useful to anyone else who wants to hone their crocheting skills.














Meanwhile, a quick reminder that our calendars are STILL on sale priced at £8 each - a great idea for a Christmas gift that gives to such an important charity dedicated to beating blood cancers. Find out how to buy one at our How To Buy A Calendar page.

You can alternatively (or as well as) make a small donation of whatever you can afford at our Just Giving Page - http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls

They're behind you! (...and to the left and right too)

Thanks to our GREAT friends from BASE (Burton Amateur Stage Entertainers) - the longest-running annual pantomime group in Burton - who were keen to lend their support to the Burton Calendar Girls project when the town's Christmas lights were officially switched on last weekend.

Here are some of their stars helping to promote our calendar with Hannah and Tilley.

We'd advise you to book your tickets soon for their February 2013 panto - which this year is Aladdin. It's always a really entertaining night out with all the fun and laughter you'd expect from a truly traditional panto.

The 'rags to riches' tale of Aladdin is packed with adventure and is guaranteed to be a family favourite.

The show runs from Tuesday February 19 to Saturday February 23 - including matinees on Thursday and Saturday - at The Brewhouse.

Tickets are £9 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and £10 on Friday and Saturday. Concessions are available at £1 off the full ticket price. A family ticket for two adults and two concessions costs £30. You can book online at the BASE website here, or contact the Brewhouse box office on 01283-508100.

Burton Calendar Girls to grace the House of Commons

Andrew Griffiths, the MP for Burton and Uttoxeter, is well-known for supporting good causes in the town so we were delighted when he 'tweeted' us to ask how he could help us sell our calendars and raise as much as possible for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

The result was a photocall outside The Brewhouse where our calendar pictures were shot on a theatrical theme, with as many as the girls as could make themselves available on a Friday afternoon.

Andrew was quick to buy a calendar - and add a donation, for which we are very grateful - and he PROMISES us that our calendar will be hanging on his office wall at the House of Commons throughout 2013!

Goodness me!

Huge thanks to Andrew, to Burton Mail photographer Simon Deacon who took the picture, and to the Burton Mail who have featured it on page three (where else?) of the newspaper tonight.

If you want to get your own copy of the calendar everyone is talking about - go to our How To Buy a Calendar page on this blog.

Remember, you can follow Burton Calendar Girls on Twitter here.

You can follow Andrew Griffiths MP on Twitter here.

Burton Calendar Girls launch - a great success

We were thrilled with the success of our launch day - 10% of all our calendars were sold!

It was a busy, exciting and slightly exhausting day at The Brewhouse yesterday where we sold our calendars form 10 am to 10pm.

It was great to see so many people and chat to them about our project. Thanks for all the lovely messages of support we had on Facebook and Twitter from local businesses - and local figures such as our MP Andrew Griffiths and Lymphoma Association fundraiser Ian Leech.

We're now re-grouping and working out the best way to offer calendars for sale inbetween various special events we have planned.

We will be selling them throughout the week of Little Theatre Company's production of The Sound Of Music in November, and before that we'll also be selling them at local business networking groups that some of our Calendar Girls belong to - including Burton Business Club, the Burton Women In Business Network group and Women in Rural Enterprises.

Keep an eye on this blog for more information about how and where to get your copy of the calendar.

Meanwhile, do enjoy this behind-the-scenes video, with footage shot by Elaine Pritchard at our June photoshoot and edited by Tilley Bancroft of Red Door Studios.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, is only a day away......

Tomorrow, September 1^st is a very exciting and  long awaited day for the LittleTheatre Company ladies, it’s the day we launch our Calendar Girls calendar. This has been such an interesting journey for all of us and we’re delighted that finally everyone will be able to see what we’ve achieved.  Coincidentally tomorrow is also the day that the amateur rights to the play “Calendar Girls” is being released. Little Theatre Company are delighted that they’re able to perform this wonderfully inspiring play in March 2013.

For those who don’t  know the story the play was written and based on a true story. Because of  Beryl Balmforth, one of the original Calendar Girls  and Grassington Players member, the Yorkshire Dales amateur theatre company have the honour of being the first company to perform Calendar Girls, tonight, Friday 31^st August, the day before the official amateur rights are released.

Mrs Balmforth will not appear in this production but she said that as a story beginning in the Yorkshire Dales she felt it only fitting that it should start its amateur life there. John Baker, whose death in 1998 inspired the original calendar was also a member of Grassington Players. The Little Theatre Company and our own Calendar Girls wish Grassington Players “Break a leg” for tonight’s  performance, it will  undoubtedly be especially poignant for them.

We hope that people will pop into the Brewhouse tomorrow from 10am until 10pm when they can enjoy  the wonderful  entertainment provided at Little Theatre Company's   Playathon and of course buy  your Calendars hot off the press.

Calendars are priced at £8. We can accept cash or cheques but not card payments unfortunately.

We look forward to seeing  everyone then.

Ready to stuff?

As you'll know our "baby" is currently at the printers and will be hot off the press this coming Friday. As we're launching our Calendar at Little Theatre Company's Playathon on Saturday, the ladies have a fun night on Friday putting calendars into plastic bags. So, Calendar Girls if you're not doing anything Friday 31st August - 7pm please hotfoot it to the Brewhouse and lend a hand. I know you're all very excited to see the finished product, we have created something very special.

I would like to give a very special thanks to the Brewhouse and staff  for their generosity and help. It is very much appreciated.

Countdown to calendar launch

In recent years the Little Theatre Company - of which all the Burton Calendar Girls are proud to be members - has held a 'Playathon' every two years as our main fund-raising event for the company.

This year, as before, we'll be taking over the Brewhouse, in Union Street, Burton-on-Trent, for 12 hours between 10am and 10pm on Saturday September 1, and offering non-stop entertainment by our members.

And we can also reveal that this will also be the day when our calendar will launch!. It will be the first chance for anyone in Burton to buy one of these calendars - so if you pop in to the Brewhouse any time between 10am and 10pm you can snap up the first available calendars.

ALL the proceeds from the sale of these calendars will go to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. None of the money is going to LTC funds - but we thought by launching the calendar on Playathon day we could have 12 hours of non-stop calendar selling too to get this charity project off to a flying start.

We would also love to see as many of you as possible at our Playathon on September 1. Admission is completely FREE - but we will be running an all-day tombola for Little Theatre Company funds. Entertainment will include lots of comedy sketches and music from a couple of our recent musical shows. There will also be a two-hour 1940s section with music, dancing and 1940s fun from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. The Brewhouse bar will be open and there will be coffee and cake, of course (See, with the Calendar Girls there's ALWAYS coffee and cake). We look forward to seeing you all. 

Burton Calendar Girls on social media

Well, now we've done the brave bit and had our photos taken, the next challenge is making sure we sell ALL the print run and raise lots of money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

So, with that in mind we're spreading the word on social media and we'd be really pleased if you would become our fan on Facebook...

...and follow us on Twitter.

It's two more ways to stay in touch with all the news as we continue along the route to seeing our calendar published. We'd love to hear from you - so do feel free to leave a comment on this blog, send us a tweet or post on our Page.

And Miss January is.........?

What a difficult task Elaine, Tilley and myself had last week. As is the norm Ken was on coffee duty and my dining room was the scene of some serious deliberations. Tilley had all the shots she'd taken and our task was to whittle them down to a few and then choose the best photograph of each pose. You'd think that would've been fairly easy to do, no such luck, every single picture taken could've gone in the Calendar, Tilley's pictures were unbelievable, the difference that her terrific lighting made without doubt, made every single shot.

 To put everything on a fair playing field and so that Elaine, Tilley and myself didn't get to choose our own pictures, Tilley and myself chose the shot of Elaine, to see Elaine sitting there hugging a teddy bear with an excrutiating look on her face while the two of us picked over her shots was hilarious, too bad I didn't have my camera to capture that expression. Of course then Tilley and I had to wait with bated breath while Elaine chose our shot. Two hours later and after much deliberation we finally had our 12 amazing poses.

And so to choose who should star in which month, our idea behind this was largely taken to make the calendar as interesting as possible, to fit in each month so that it flowed nicely with the month before and so here is the final selection.

January           -     Elaine
February         -     Joyce
March             -     Katie,Jane, Chris, Dawn
April               -     Hannah
May                -     Karen
June                -     Jodie and Sarah
July                 -    Vicky
August            -     Sonja
September      -     Bethan
October          -     Carol and Tilley
November       -     Heather
December       -     The Girls

Here come the girls.......

The first shot taken on Sunday at our photo shoot, this is as much as you get unless you buy the Calendar later in the year. Aren't we a fine bunch?

WE DID IT!!!!

Oh my goodness, where to start. 9am yesterday our ladies arrived at the Brewhouse, there was an awful lot of " what the heck are we doing?" " did we really say we'd do this?" But they all came armed with dressing gowns ( we didn't need clothes) food and drink and all with smiles and laughter.

We had a little pre-shoot chat when Tilley explained how the day would go. We decided to do our group shot in the auditorium first so that everyone could get in the mood and help lose their inhibitions a little. Sheelagh, our wonderful make up lady was on standby to start making us beautiful. So, bedecked in our dressing gowns Tilley arranged us and with only a Little Theatre Company programme to hide our modesty Tilley said those words "Ok ladies let's do it, take off your robes", without hesitation every one of us stood up and got naked, I can't begin to tell  you how unbelievably proud of everyone I was, we just did it, posed with our programmes and "Voila", shot number one done. We had decided that I would go first with Tilley, followed by Elaine, leading by example and hopefully letting the ladies know what they were in for. Everyone stayed in the auditorium the whole day and cheered each one of us on as we had our pose photographed.

The poses we had decided on, all based on a theatrical theme looked absolutely amazing, everyone of our ladies totally entered into the spirit, did what had to be done. Tilley of Red Door studios is an amazing photographer and her lighting was second to none. Whilst most of us were not allowed to look at our shots once Tilley had taken them, I did see some of them on the computer as she took them and I was totally blown away by them, her lighting of each shot made them look stunning. I know the ladies can't wait to see the shots but I know they'll be delighted with them.

There are so many people to thank, Sheelagh for giving up her day to make us all look so beautiful with her make up, that was greatly appreciated, Elaine and Caittom Publishing for providing us with Bucks Fizz and delicious wine, Bethan for her valiant efforts with Pimms and everyone else who bought goodies to make our day special. Thanks also to Matt and Ken for their lifting of heavy objects and for all the running around they did to help us. The biggest thank you and I know this comes from every one of us is for Tilley, who worked so tirelessly throughout the day, she's like the Energiser bunny, just doesn't stop and I know that the finished Calendar will be stunning, her talents are endless and we're very lucky to have her on our team.

Who'd have thought that over a year ago when Elaine and myself were having coffee one day and I said " hmmm wouldn't it be fun to a Calendar?" and Elaine say " now that's an idea" that we have actually done it and to raise, we hope, an awful lot of money for such a worthwhile cause.

There were a few little emotional moments yesterday during the shoot when I think we all realised what an amazing thing we'd just done, such a liberating and bonding thing, we're a very close group of women anyway but for us all to do this was wonderful. My huge thanks to every single one of  you who "bared" all and made yesterday such a truly special day,I am so very proud of all of you.

I'm posting this one picture, a sample of one of our shots, this was taken on Saturday when Tilley was setting up the lighting and I volunteered to stand in for the pose, of course lovely Heather was the one who did the actual pose and of course not fully dressed, but I hope you can get a feel for how wonderful Tilley's lighting was.

Now Tilley's work really begins as she has to edit the pictures and we'll make the final decision which ones goes on the Calendar, of course if you want to see how it turns out then you're going to have to buy a Calendar.

Lights, camera, action

Ok well for the moment let's just say lights. Costumes, props taken down to the Brewhouse this morning, Tilley delighted at the stash I brought from Mike's room. Ken and Matt valiantly moved the extremely heavy piano into position on the stage for tomorrow. Tilley has an eye for exactly the lighting she wants and of course lovely Matt, being the technician knows exactly how to achieve that for her. Now I'm thinking, from the pose that maybe Matt would also like to be on the Calendar.