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.

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.

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.

Instructions now available if you want to crochet a Calendar Girl

There's been a flurry of interest from people who want to crochet a calendar girl.

So we've now made the instructions - created originally by Tilley Bancroft of Red Door Studios - available for ANYONE to obtain from us.

All we'd like in return is a stamped addressed envelope - to send your instructions back to you without us incurring any postage charges - and a small donation to our ongoing fund for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

You should post your stamped addressed envelope to:
Burton Calendar Girls
87 Meadow View
Rolleston-on-Dove
Burton-on-Trent
Staffordshire DE13 9AL.

You can either enclose a small donation - whatever you can afford - or you can make a small donation online safely and securely at our Just Giving page - http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls

We'd LOVE to know how you get on - so do leave us a comment on the blog.

Happy crocheting!

Rehearsing - and crocheting

Rehearsals are now underway for our March 2013 production of Calendar Girls - the play - at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent. I haven't forgotten that I promised you casting news, and that will follow.

Crcoheting calendar girls is also underway - with mixed results.

Our photographer, Tilley, who also appears in our October shot, has recruited her mum to the cause - and she's doing brilliantly.

Other people have made a promising start....

But the end result in this case was a rather over-sized and (frankly) deeply unattractive crocheted 'girl'.

If you know the play Calendar Girls it may come as no surprise that THIS delightful diva was created by the lady playing 'Ruth' - she of the handmade fancy dress costume etc... who means well but never quite manages to win any prizes.

She's now on crocheted doll number 2 which looks good so far..... I think she's learned from her mistakes, and maybe the canine encouragement helped.

If you would like to join the 'crochet a calendar girl' drive we can send you out some instructions in return for a small donation to the cause.

You can donate to our fund for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research easily and quickly online at http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls Any small donation this festive season would be welcome.

You can also buy one of our calendar for just £8 - if you are able to collect one in person from us in Burton-on-Trent - or we can mail them out for an additional charge to cover postage and packing. See our How to Buy A Calendar page for more information.

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

Hot news! Burton Calendar Girls are on Just Giving

I've just set up my first-ever page on Just Giving. What a great system that is for raising funds for charity.

Did you know that the money you donate through Just Giving goes STRAIGHT to your chosen charity - in our case that's Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

We found in the last week or so that a lot of people who visit our stalls at events like to pop some small change in our collecting tin - so we thought that a Just Giving Page would be an easy and 100% secure way for people further afield to contribute to our cause.

So the big question now is - who is going to make the first donation? Go to - http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls if you would like it to be you!

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.

By George! A new calendar retail outlet

We're very grateful to George Gunby - a familiar face in Burton town centre at this time every year - who runs the Calendar Club stall outside Boots in the middle of the Cooper's Square Shopping Centre.

George has agreed to display our Burton Calendar Girls calendar and sell it alongside the huge range of calendars and diaries he already stocks.

So do pop down and buy a copy from him if you've not bought yours yet.

Our full colour calendar costs £8 and is raising money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research - 

the only UK charity solely dedicated to research into blood cancers, including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

Miss April lights up Burton's switch-on celebrations

Special thanks to Hannah - aka Miss April - who promoted our calendar from the stage at today's switch-on of the Burton Christmas lights.

Thanks to ALL the girls who took a turn on the stall - and thanks to Burton town Centre Management for their support.

Um, Miss November.... I think you have a new fan!

New Burton market is christened in style

What an amazing event the PINT Arts Festival Craft and Artisan Market was in Burton-on-Trent yesterday.

Organiser Alistair Kennedy deserves a medal as he powered through the day having had just 40 minutes sleep because on Friday night he was among those taking part in Burton YMCA's Sleep Out. And let's not forget Burton Town Centre Management and The Making House who also helped make yesterday such a great success.

There was a great range of quality stalls selling unusual and beautiful gifts and cards, cakes, chocolate, chutneys and jams, clothes and jewellery - the list went on and on. The event was superbly well organised and promoted and I hope it bodes well for the future success of Burton's traditional market stall holders when they take over those new pitches on Station Street which we christened yesterday.

The Burton Calendar Girls had a great day. We met some lovely people and had lots of support. Here are Carol and Dawn during their shifts.



Dawn and me, Heather, Karen and Katie, Tilley and Bethan were splitting our time between the stall and The Brewhouse where the set crew had a busy day building mountains, a convent and the residence of the Von Trapp family ready for tomorrow's opening night of Little Theatre Company's The Sound of Music.

Carol will be the one organising our big calendar selling operation at every performance of the show - so there's plenty of time to come down to The Brewhouse any night this week and buy a calendar and chat with Carol about our calendar girl experience. Now, it's back to the Brewhouse again for a Sound of Music double dress rehearsal. See you again soon!

Extreme calendar selling

We have eight days of 'extreme calendar selling' on the horizon and are hoping for lots of support from the people of Burton and district.

We start on Saturday (November 10) when a number of the girls are taking turns to sell calendars at the Burton Craft Fair and Artisan Market being held in Station Street, in Burton town centre. HUGE thanks to Burton Creative Network who have generously let us have some space on their stall for free.

The market runs from 10am until about 4pm and will host lots of  quality stalls. Here's a picture of the stalls being put in place which Burton Creative Network shared on its Facebook Page this week.

It's going to be a busy day as most of the girls are also appearing in The Sound of Music next week for our Little Theatre Company. On Saturday they are fitting calendar selling shifts in around trying on costumes and some technical rehearsals.

Then, throughout the run of The Sound of Music (Monday November 12 - Saturday November 17) calendars will be on sale before, during and after every 7.30pm performance and the Saturday matinee at 2.30pm at The Brewhouse, Union Street.

Tickets for the show are in very short supply. The popularity of this Rodgers and Hammerstein favourite clearly never fades and the Friday night and Saturday afternoon shows are already sold out. A few tickets remain for other performances - so call the box office on 01283-508100 for latest availability.

BUT, remember, even if you've NOT got a ticket we'd love to see you in the bar of the Brewhouse where Carol, Vicky and Chris - who all appear in the calendar - will be leading the sales drive. You would be welcome to drop in for a calendar, a drink from the bar and you can also enjoy the handiwork of artist David Booth who is currently working on the world's largest sculpture (we think) made from beermats as part of the PINT Arts Festival.

Many other girls from the calendar appear as nuns in The Sound of Music - no typecasting there, then!

There's no peace when the show ends on Saturday November 17 - as after the 'take down' on Sunday morning (when we dismantle the set, gather up the props and pack up the costumes) some of the girls will be selling calendars at the official Burton Christmas Lights Switch-on from 12 noon in the town centre. Thanks again to Burton Town Centre Management for the support.

The only expense we have had is the calendar printing - thanks to the generosity of our support team and our Burton supporters. EVERY other penny raised will go to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Our full colour calendars cost just £8 each.

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.

Back to the Calendar Girl roots

As you will probably know, the Calendar Girls story began 13 years ago when the members of Rylstone and District Women's Institute decided to strip off for a charity calendar with a difference after the husband of one of the women died from leukaemia.

Since then they have raised an amazing £13 million.

We are thrilled to have been invited to speak to two local Womens' Institute groups - Egginton WI and Burton Belles WI - about our own journey.

Burton Belles held an open evening this week, when Elaine popped down to meet some of the ladies. It was extremely busy at the St John Ambulance HQ where they meet. But they still found time to buy a few calendars, and a few more will be on sale at their October meeting.

We are very happy to consider taking our calendars and a little stall to any events or meetings in and around Burton - although we don't have a budget to pay for stalls I'm afraid. But we'd be happy to send along a couple of the girls to give a talk. Get in touch on Twitter or via our Facebook Page if you are interested in having a Burton calendar Girl or two at your organisation or event.

Our baby is born

Today our baby was finally born and Essential Print Services carefully packed them and sent them on their merry way. To say we're all very excited doesn't even come close.

We've seen it - but you still have to wait

It's safe to say that the get-together at the Tutbury studios of our photographer Tilley Bancroft last night was a HUGE success.

Fuelled by Sonja's ginger cake, biscuits tea and coffee, the ladies nervously gathered to see the final shots chosen for the calendar.

And they loved them!!

But I'm afraid to say that the rest of you have to wait until later in the year when the calendar is printed and launched. We'll have some more details for you about that.

After all the excitement of the 'reveal'  most of us headed off to local pub, The Dog and Partridge for a drink to make the most of the warm summer evening.

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.

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?