Calendar Girl's charity date for Severn Hospice
An original Calendar Girl was the guest of honour a charity event held to raise funds for the Severn Hospice.
Tricia Stewart, who famously stripped off in a Women's Institute fundraiser to raise money for Leukaemia Research, spoke at a ladies lunch held in Market Drayton yesterday.
Mrs Stewart was the driving force behind the Alternative WI Calendar, which sparked the movie Calendar Girls in which she was portrayed by Helen Mirren.
The film also starred Julie Walters and Annette Crosbie.
The event, which attracted a crowd of more than 200 ladies, was organised by the Market Drayton Support Group for the Severn Hospice and took place at Hollies Farm, in Bletchley.
Jacqui Wright, from the support group, said: "We had an absolutely wonderful time listening to her stories. She still lives in Yorkshire and would have been snowed in but she travelled to Leeds on Sunday night and stayed over to ensure that she would be with us.
"I was very grateful for all her efforts, especially as we had a crowd of over 200 ladies.
"She really is an excellent talker, she is very humorous and she spoke without any notes, she told us absolutely everything."
Mrs Stewart told the story of how she and her friends produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research under the guidance of the Women's Institutes in April 1999.
Fundraising started after John Richard Barker, the husband of Mrs Stewart's friend Angela, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Initially the women aimed to buy a sofa for the visitors' lounge in the hospital where John was treated.
However, to date they have raised over £2 million for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
Mrs Wright said: "It really was a very interesting talk. She told us how when they were contacted about making a film they stipulated that it was filmed in the Yorkshire Dales so they had Helen Mirren and Julie Walters come out to visit them."
She added: "We all had a very enjoyable afternoon. The lunch was provided by the Severn Hospice Group and helping at the bar was our honouree males, the husbands, who were casting an ear to the speech but pretending they weren't. It was all good fun."
