The West Midlands’ answer to The Calendar Girls are paying a special visit to Solihull’s Touchwood Shopping centre this weekend – but don’t worry, this time they promise to be wearing more than just their smiles!
The local ladies are among 39 brave fundraisers, aged between 19-80, who appear in the Ladies First Professional Development Group Charity Calendar – striking a series of cheeky poses, all in the name of 32 charities close to their hearts.
Exclusive signed copies of their calendar are available for the first time at the centre on Saturday, following the official launch celebration at The Rep Theatre in Birmingham on Thursday (October 15th) It’s also a chance to meet some of the ladies themselves, at their stand in the Central Atrium (outside Costa Coffee) between 10am and 4pm. And all purchases on the day also come with a raffle ticket as part of a prize draw to win a Treats Hamper.
For anyone who can’t make it down there on Saturday, the calendar is also available to purchase at the nearby Calendar Club stand throughout the pre-Christmas period.
It is part of a partnership in which Calendar Club has agreed to sell the Ladies First Charity Calendar at their Solihull, Leamington and Coventry stalls from Monday.
Copies of the limited-edition calendar cost £20 and are also available to order (plus postage and packing) from the Ladies First website at: https://www.ladies-first-charity.co.uk/
Ladies First Director Tracey McAtmaney, whose 60th birthday inspired the project, said: “Having Touchwood put their faith in our Ladies First Charity Calendar by offering us a pop-up stand is truly the icing on the cake. This journey has grown bigger and bigger, and I feel both amazed and humbled by the incredible support we have received along the way.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to Touchwood for helping us take our message to an even wider audience.
“Please come along, find our stand and have a chat with us. We are just ordinary women, each with our own stories and life experiences, and it is those experiences that make this project so special.
“Through the calendar, we are raising money for multiple charities while sharing a message that is close to my heart: love yourself, whatever age or stage of life you are at. Life doesn’t always go to plan, but every woman has a story worth telling, and we hope our calendar inspires others to embrace who they are, recognise their own worth and never feel invisible.”
As well as Tracey, who is from Balsall Common, the plucky West Midlands line-up includes Birmingham-born TV news anchor and freelance journalist and author Suzanne Virdee; former BBC radio broadcaster Nikki Tapper MBE; Pat Hemmings – wife of ex Drifters star Roy; Mother and daughter Pauline Edden and Jo Quigley; Ruth and Gillian Bridges; Maxine Faulder; Mary Sewell; Karen Jones; Marcia Lewinson; Gemma Mills; Stephanie Jackson; Lorraine Baneham; Paola Spiga and Sue Cressman.
Tony Elvin, General Manager, Touchwood, said: “At Touchwood, we’re always keen to support initiatives that bring our local business community together and, most importantly, make a positive difference. The Ladies First Charity Calendar is a fantastic example of people having a bit of fun, being brave enough to try something different and using that enthusiasm to raise money for more than 30 very worthwhile charities.
“We’re delighted to be able to support the ladies, assisting them in promoting the calendar and meeting with shoppers. It’s a great local initiative with a brilliant story behind it, and we’re looking forward to helping them spread the word ahead of Christmas.”
The Ladies First calendar has also won the support of the ‘Original Calendar Girl,’ Tricia Stewart, who was one of 11 plucky Yorkshire ladies to pose for the Rylestone & District WI naked calendar, the first of its kind, in 1999. It went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, raising a whopping £6.5 million for the then-named Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, now Blood Cancer UK.
Local and national charities benefiting this time around include: Surviving Bereavement Foundation; Molly Ollys; Coventry, Warwickshire & Worcestershire Mind; Prostate Cancer UK; The Esther Project; Teenage Cancer Trust; Arrive Alive; Shakespeare Soroptimists; The Luca Foundation; A Child’s Heart; Anthony Nolan Trust; Women’s Aid; The Katie Piper Foundation; Birmingham Hospice; The Friendship Project; SAMM (Support After Murder & Manslaughter); Birmingham Children’s Hospital; The National Autistic Society; The NTCG Rock Community Food; WAITS; DORCAS; Endometriosis UK; Myton Hospice; Purple Community Fund PCF; Blue Badgers; Dementia UK; The Queen Brain Tumour Fund; Blood Cancer UK; Edward’s Trust and breast cancer equipment for Birmingham hospitals.
Working hard behind the scenes alongside Tracey to pull the project together, are the Calendar Girls team of Amanda Chalmers, of Chalmers News PR; Jane Collier of Visually Virtual Photography and Bianca Rodrigues-Perry of Bia’s Marketing, Production & PR.
Headline sponsors for the calendar include Pertemps in Meriden; Mallory Court Hotel & Spa, where the calendar was shot and Unique Venues Birmingham. Any other companies interested in getting involved are invited to contact Tracey McAtamney at: tracey@ladiesfirstnetwork.co.uk