Saucy sea swimming calendar to raise money for St Wilfrid’s hospice

A calendar featuring saucy snaps of Felpham sea swimmers in the nude is set to release later this month
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Braving the coastal cold and stripping down to their birthday suits for the pictures, members hope the calendar brings a smile to people’s faces, with proceeds going towards vital end of life care at St Wilfrid’s Hospice.

Avid sea swimmer Janet Stockley-Pollard said the experience – which involved plenty of bracing seaside photo shoots – really brought the group together.

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The idea for the Calendar Girls style calendar – which features strategically posed naked pictures of the group – came about after one member suffered a personal tragedy.

'Peeping'. Photo by Jacqueline Rackham'Peeping'. Photo by Jacqueline Rackham
'Peeping'. Photo by Jacqueline Rackham

Mrs Stockley-Pollard said: “One of the ladies who comes to the group came to her first meeting and broke down and we found out she’d recently lost her husband to cancer.”

St Wilfrid’s Hospice had supported her and her husband throughout the last few months of his life and the group decided to raise money for them.

Though they experimented with a number of ideas, a calender, one which best represented the camaraderie and compassion of the group, seemed like a natural fit.

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“This way, we can hopefully raise a bit more money for St Wilfrid’s because people are getting something back for their money and I thought it would give us a lot more to focus on because it won’t just be one day.”

Mrs Stockley-Pollard, who lost her father to cancer, said the hospice has a special place in the heart of almost all the group’s members.

“We used the hospice for my dad,” she said. “And one of the women in the camera shoots has had cancer, so she’s benefitted from their services, too. So many of us have had contact with them in one way or another. It just seemed like a good way of giving something back.

“I just wanted (the woman who lost her husband to cancer) to have something fun and a distraction. She’s got the biggest smile and the biggest laugh in some of the pictures. And that’s why we’re doing it, really.”

To get hold of a calendar, get in touch by sending an email to [email protected].

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