Original Calendar Girls reunite to bare all again 10 years on... and this time they're in colour

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail
Updated:

It is ten years since they first took their clothes off for a calendar.

But the good ladies of Rylstone Women's Institute believe they still have the bare necessities to raise charity funds.

Calendar Girls

The ladies get down to business for their new photoshoot - albeit with some strategically placed items perhaps a little lower down than last time

However, this time the Calendar Girls have opted for colour, rather than the more forgiving sepia-tinted pictures which helped them raise £2million for leukaemia research and spawned a hit movie starring Helen Mirren.

The strategically-placed props are back in place although perhaps a little lower down.

Angela Baker
Angela Baker

Take two: Angela Baker, whose husband John died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1999 inspiring the idea for the calendar, is seen playing the piano in the all-new colour 2010 version, and baking a cake in the original

CHRISTINE CLANCY, 51
Christine Clancy

Some like it hot: Christine Clancy pouring a brew in the new calendar, and stitching in the 1999 version, aged 51

Tricia Stewart
Calendar Girls 2010: Tricia Stewart

Gardener of Eden: Tricia Stewart posing for the March picture in the 2010 version and with apples at a cider press in the first

Like the original, the 2010 offering, unveiled yesterday, features the women in traditional WI activities but wearing nothing but pearls and a smile.

Only six of the original 11 have posed. This follows divisions over who should make the 2003 film of their story - and other fallings-out as their fame spread.

The Calendar Girls

The Calendar Girls Mark Two: (From left to right) Tricia Stewart, Angela Baker, Beryl Bamforth, Lynda Logan, Chris Clancy and Ros Fawcett

calendar

The Calendar Girls Mark One: The original line-up of ladies from the Rylstone and District Women's Institute, based near Skipton, North Yorkshire

Enlarge   Helen Mirren Calendar Girls

Helen Mirren starred in the Hollywood film version of the Calendar Girls

Their decision to strip for their first calendar was inspired by the death of group member Angela Baker's husband, John, from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1999.

Unveiling the latest calendar at the Harvey Nichols store in Leeds, Mrs Baker, 63, broke down in tears as she recalled her pain at losing him and told how he would have been 'so proud' of the ladies' fundraising achievements in his name.

She said: 'Thank you to all the girls for supporting everything over the last ten years.'

Mrs Baker, who can be seen playing the piano on the February picture, said: 'I was a bit apprehensive about colour, because older women can look a bit funny in colour.

'Then, when I did see it in colour, I thought "Well, maybe, why not?"'

At her home overlooking the Yorkshire Dales, Moyra Livesey, 54, one of the so-called Rylstone Five who split from the other six, gave the latest calendar a rather lukewarm reception.

She said: 'Some people get used to being in the limelight.

'We five weren't asked to do the 10th anniversary, but I'm sure I wouldn't have been prepared to take my clothes off again.

'You can do it too often and it loses impact.'

Back at the launch, Mrs Baker was joined by her co-stars Beryl Bamforth, 75, Tricia Stewart, 60, Lynda Logan, 65, Chris Clancy, 57, and Ros Fawcett, 59.

calendar girls

Penelope Wilton, Helen Mirren and Julie Walters in the big screen adaptation 

Mrs Bamforth is shown chairing a WI meeting for January's picture, and the other ladies agreed she looked the best.

She merely said: 'I just take it in my stride. We have done it before.'

The Calendar Girls 2010 calendar costs £9.95 and is available from www.leukaemiashop.com or by phone on 01736 336 960.

Calendar girl Angela Baker

Emotional: Mrs Baker said her husband John would have 'laughed his head off'





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