Calling Shropshire's own calendar girls

The hunt is on for Shropshire residents who are willing to pose in the nude for a Calender Girls-style public health campaign.

Shropshire County Primary Care Trust is looking for people willing to be the public face of its new NHS Health Check campaign.

It is designed to create awareness about the risks of heart and kidney disease, Type 2 diabetes and strokes in people aged between 40 and 74 years old.

Professor Rod Thomson, Shropshire County's director of public health, said: "The search is not a beauty contest. People don't need to look like Jane Fonda or George Clooney, any shape or size is fine.

"We are just looking for real people to reveal, very tastefully, that the NHS free Health Check is nothing to fear."

The PCT is looking for local people who are willing to come forward and strip off for the campaign.

Those selected will then have their images used on billboards, the side of buses and giant posters across the county.

Nominate

The search for models aged between 40 and 74 years old is being conducted with the help of Facebook.

A page has been set up on the social networking site featuring a short introduction video to the scheme.

People visiting the page will be able to nominate either themselves or friends and family members as possible models.

Once the winning candidates, who will be known as NHS Health Check champions, have been selected, they will be professionally photographed.

Professor Thomson added: "We are looking to recruit people who will be the local face of this innovative and exciting campaign.

They will symbolise and promote NHS Health Check across Shropshire; ensuring people understand that the NHS Health Check is a great opportunity to understand about and potentially identify early any underlying health problems they may have."

Free health checks take about 20 to 30 minutes and consist of questions about family medical history, health and lifestyle, along with some simple physical checks.

If any risks are identified, there will be an opportunity to discuss lifestyle, diet changes or treatment and to learn about any available help and support.

Details on the campaign are available at www.facebook.com/freehealthcheck