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

Thank you Brasense for your support!

As rehearsals continue for our March production of Calendar Girls, the members of the cast who need to strip off for the crucial (and hilarious) scene where the charity calendar is photographed are thinking about eating salads, exercising - and underwear.

Sara, of Brasense, can't help us with the first two - but she has provided the six main characters with some super, nude, almost invisible undies. And we are very grateful.

It's a very important part of the show that no-one in the audience actually sees anything they really shouldn't. We're determined to avoid the 'wardrobe malfunctions' that it seems other amateur theatre groups have suffered around the UK.

As the name suggests, Brasense is a company that specialises in ensuring that women achieve a perfect fit from their bras. But in this case she has sourced some knickers that are like the ones worn by glamour models - and we feel very glamorous as a result.

If you think you could be among many, many women across the UK wearing a bra that's not really comfortable and doesn't give you the shape and support you really need, have a look at the Brasense website - http://www.brasense.co.uk - and read about the service they can offer.

Brasense is based in Measham, Derbyshire - and we're also happy to welcome them as a Corporate Patron of Little Theatre Company.

Two Calendar Girls struck down by Puppy Love

It's been an exciting week for two of our calendar girls - mum and daughter Elaine and Caitlin - who had a surprise meeting backstage with Donny and Marie Osmond after watching their show at Birmingham's LG Arena.

On Twitter, Marie had invited audience members who 'followed' her to tweet her their seat number about half an hour before the show started - and Elaine did.

She was shocked speechless when about three number into the show Marie announced from that stage that the winner of her Twitter competition was Elaine.

The pair were ushered out of their seats in block 14 and taken to the two seats in the middle of the front row where they watched the rest of the show. They were given a backstage tour at the show's interval and afterwards met Donny and Marie for pictures, autographs and a quick chat.

Elaine was a MASSIVE Osmonds fan in the 70s and has seen most of their recent UK tours since 2007. She is still recovering from the shock.

Marie tweeted the picture of her with Elaine and Cait to her 87,885 twitter followers and also shared Elaine's comment that she was glad she'd been moved to the front or she wouldn't have seen Marie's fabulous shoes! Fellow Calendar Girls will know Elaine does love shoes! (Sadly, she herself was wearing practical and rather ugly sensible trainers on the night to cope with the ice in the arena car park).

Elaine (Miss January on our calendar) plays 'Ruth' in our March production of the play Calendar Girls. Caitlin appears in the calendar's December group shot and plays 'Elaine' in the show.

If you are a fan of Twitter, you can follow Elaine at @Ellajp and the Burton Calendar Girls @LTCCalendarGirl

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

Playwright Tim Firth supports Burton Calendar Girls

Bethan Waite, one of the brave ladies in our calendar, took a trip to Frodsham Literature Festival where she had the good fortune to be introduced to Tim Firth - the award-winning writer of the play Calendar Girls.

Tim is patron of the festival, known as Weaver Words, and was more than happy to chat to Bethan about his play, Little Theatre Company's production of it in March 2013 and our current charity calendar project.

Bethan said: "I asked him, 'Please write more plays with such wonderful parts for women in' - and he said that was one of the reasons that he wrote Calendar Girls in the first place."

He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2003 film which starred Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

Tim's own website is being very generous in its support for the hundreds of amateur productions of Calendar Girls going ahead in the coming 18 months.

The evening after Bethan met Tim and his wife, the Firths were going to the amateur premiere of Calendar Girls which took place in Grassington - the village where the real Womens' Institute did that first naked calendar.

He told Bethan that was definitely the ONLY production he would be going to see. His mother was due to appear in an amateur production, he revealed - but he wasn't even planning to watch that.

Tim did sign a couple of good luck messages for us which we'll add to the front of house displays when we stage the play next March. Meanwhile, remember to keep an eye on our How to Buy A Calendar page here to see how and where you can buy your own Burton Calendar Girls calendar for yourself, a friend or a relative as an unforgettable Christmas present.

A HUGE thank you

A few weeks ago I went with hubby Ken and one of our own calendar girls, Vicky, to see the touring production of Calendar Girls at Derby Assembly Rooms. As a group we'd all been to see the same production last July as our director John had wanted to get our confirmation that we were all game to do this production next March. It really is a wonderful production and I'd forgotten just how hilariously funny it is but has the ability to take you from laughter to poignancy in a heartbeat.

During one of our coffee meetings Elaine had posed the question did we think that if we put together a poster we could get the professional cast of Calendar Girls to sign it for us so that we could raffle it to make a little more money for the charity? Well my thoughts were that, if you don't ask, you don't get. So we put together a poster with a picture of our "robed" Calendar girls and at the last minute I decided to enclose one of our Calendars too, just so that hopefully they would see what a professional job we'd done and that the cast would sign it.

So, on the night we went to see the show I left the posters and calendar with the front of house staff and kept everything crossed. On the last night of the tour I received a phone call from the Tour Manager to say that the cast had indeed signed the poster, I was delighted. So my dear hubby tootled off to the Assembly Rooms to collect the envelope. What a great bunch the cast were! Not only did they sign the posters but they signed our calendar too! Such a wonderful surprise and we are truly appreciative of that gesture. So, at some point in the not too distant future we will indeed be raffling off now, not only a signed poster but also a signed copy of our calendar, now surely that has to be worth buying a ticket for.

We have so many events coming up in the near future so please keep checking the blog and spread the word.

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.

How to be a calendar girl (or boy)

In Burton shop windows you will have seen lots of posters displayed for the touring professional production of the play Calendar Girls which comes to Derby in September - details and how to book are here.

We saw this cast perform the play in Nottingham last year and we can thoroughly recommend their version. A few people have glanced at the posters and asked if it was OUR show. We don't take to the stage at The Brewhouse until March - but you'll be able to read all about our show and its rehearsals on this blog nearer the time.

Anyway, to promote the Derby production - which takes place between September 24-29 at The Assembly Rooms - Derby Live is running a competition encouraging daring theatregoers to get their kit off and strike a Calendar Girls-style pose.

If you want to take part, you need to send your entry to: Be A Calendar Girl or Boy Competition, Derby Live, Assembly Rooms, Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AH with your full name and contact numbers before the closing date of Fri 7 Sep.

Derby Live will then judge all the entries and pick four favourites as finalists. Those finalists will then be invited to see the show on Mon 24 Sep, where, along with a guest of their choice. They will meet the cast backstage afterwards. The ultimate winner will take home £50 worth of credit to use at Derby LIVE shows and events - oh and they might just be featured in the Derby Telegraph too.

There's more about the competition here on the Derby Live website.

Go on! Be brave! We can tell you from experience that it's great fun.

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.

Almost there

Having decided on the 12 shots for the Calendar, Elaine, Tilley and myself had a get together last Friday to decide on the final layout of the Calendar. Tilley has designed the most wonderful front cover and we decided that the back cover would be "dressing gown" shots of each of us as we were preparing for our pictures to be taken. We wanted also to make sure that we thanked everyone that we needed to thank, some very wonderful and generous people have given their resources and their valuable time to make this the best it could be. Briefly, Tilley, Sheelagh and Elaine but so many more people we're very grateful to. We know that the finished Calendar will be something we will all be very proud of.

We had also decided that it would be nice if every lady had a souvenir of their own picture, so in a couple of weeks time we're all meeting at Tilley's Red Door Studios where everyone can see all the pictures taken and choose which one they'd like for posterity. We're anticipating that that will be a fun night and afterwards we shall be visiting a local hostelry to raise a glass to a job well done.

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

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.

Tea anyone?

What a fun afternoon we had at Langans Tea Rooms. Eleven of the ladies involved in the Calendar made it for afternoon tea. The menu is so wonderful there, some had sandwiches, a few had the "afternoon tea" or "cream tea" complete with the most delicious scones straight from the oven and of course copious amounts of tea. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon I would recommend this to anyone.

Naked fury?

It seems that Calendar Girls is immensely popular, not that that was ever in question, it is an amazing production and an amazing feat for any Amateur theatre company. But I sincerely hope that whilst there seem to be hundreds of companies that are desperate to take this opportunity to bare all and perform, the spirit of the original ladies isn't forgotten.

I spotted this piece online at The Independent. Here's an edited version of the full article published last year:.

Naked fury! Why Calendar Girls are going into battle

Rows and cancelled performances mar the release of amateur production rights for the hit show to raise money for charity.

The tale of Calendar Girls is one of mutual support and female solidarity that brought global fame to the women who inspired the story. But now a war has broken out among amateur thespians vying to stage the hit play, says its producer.

The amateur rights for the play, based on the true story of members of Rylstone and District Women's Institute in Yorkshire stripping off for a charity calendar, are being released for the first time for 12 months from 1 September next year. The producers hope to establish a Guinness World Record for the most productions of one play in a year, with a percentage of the royalties going to Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research..

"There are ladies all over the country wanting to take off their clothes," said Mr Pugh, who did not realise that the rights release would prove quite so popular. He said demand for Calendar Girls was "quite unprecedented": Samuel French has received 302 applications from UK amateur groups, and issued 154 licences. The company now warns applicants of the show's popularity and that other groups in their area may be performing it. .

The real-life Calendar Girls of the Rylstone and District WI posed naked for a 2000 calendar in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research following the death of John Baker, the husband of a Rylstone WI member, from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Mr Baker's widow Angela, 65, of Linton in Yorkshire, who is now married to the Rev Charles Knowles, was the original Miss February. She welcomed the release of the amateur rights and hoped groups enjoyed performing the play.

Her local theatre group, Grassington Players, of which Mr Baker was house manager, will perform the amateur premiere of Calendar Girls on 31 August next year. She admitted the production might be a "little bit harder to watch" as it would be done by people she saw every day rather than famous actresses she did not know.

"John was well known in the area," she added. "It will be difficult wondering who is going to play him, and it may be hard for the person playing him who lives locally.

"I think we will all feel it a bit strange. It's very close to home."

Afternoon tea anyone?

With just 10 days to go it was felt that we needed something to spur us on. Elaine, Bethan and myself have been to Langans Tea Rooms before and Bethan suggested that maybe a trip there for afternoon tea might just hit the spot.

Unfortunately, because of work commitments, not everyone is able to attend but quite a few of us will be there on Weds 6th June to partake of Langans excellent afternoon teas. For those who've never been there you're missing a treat, the food is delicious and plentiful and whether you're a tea  or coffee drinker you won't be disappointed in the choices.

Apart from the food the setting itself, Burton House, is a wonderful old building with many original features, either sit in one of the squishy sofas in the coffee area or gather round one of the many tables. Langans is a really wonderful place to nip in for a coffee, brunch a light lunch or even a Sunday roast. Hmmmmm now, carrot cake, eclairs or gateau? I'm going to have to give that one some thought.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Our Company is so fortunate to have people with amazing skills other than as performers. As things start to jog along we needed a "dressing room" mirror made complete with lights around it. So who best to go to but our very own Dave Tunks and Pete Banton. I gave them a sketch of what we needed and lo and behold it's being made as we speak.  To say the Calendar girls are grateful is to put it mildly. So a huge thank you gentlemen.