THERE were smiles all round as one of the original Calendar Girls helped raise funds to provide clean water for all.
Tricia Stewart, who was part of the calendar girls created by the Rylstone and District Women’s Institute, spoke at a Solihull Rotary dinner to raise funds for Aquaboxes.
The event raised £1,650 – enough for six family and community boxes which are filled with cooking utensils, hygiene equipment, shelter materials and a water-filtration unit. They are handed out as part of humanitarian aid in crisis zones across the world.
In 1999 Tricia and others from the North Yorkshire Women’s Institute wanted to raise funds for a sofa which would be donated to the hospital where a fellow member Angela Baker’s husband had died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
It was Tricia who suggested the group puts a twist on the tradition WI calendars, which featured idyllic country scenes, and instead took part in a nude photoshoot.
The group has since gone on to raise £5million for Bloodwise which carries out research into blood cancer.
The WI’s story has been made into a film and has recently been adapted into a stage production by Tim Firth and Gary Barlow.
