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Bold statement: Renowned Yorkshire Calendar Girls mark decade of triumph over tragedy Kathleen LaCamera, Dec 21, 2009
By Kathleen LaCamera Special Contributor
YORKSHIRE, England—When Angela Baker stood with her longtime friends in front of a room packed with reporters and cameras, she began with a “thank you.”
“It’s brilliant to see you all,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. “I’m sure John Baker will be smiling. The sun is shining and I know that he will be so pleased with what we’ve achieved. ”
John was Angela’s much-loved husband. This dedicated Yorkshire Dales park ranger, Methodist church steward, adored father, and treasured friend and colleague died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1998 at the age of 54.
Determined to do something to celebrate John’s life and give themselves a bit of distraction from their grief, Angela, best friend Tricia Stewart and their friends decided to create a rather “revealing” charity calendar. They posed among teapots and cakes and jars of homemade jam, wearing, well, not much.
That was more than a decade ago. Ten years on, the world-famous “Calendar Girls” launched their 10th anniversary calendar in front of a crowd of journalists shouting their names and jostling for the chance to snap photos of the Girls, now aged 57–76.
To date, they have raised more than $3 million for the Leukemia Research charity.
The Girls and their calendar photographer, Terry Logan, admit it’s been quite a journey.
“It’s unbelievable really,” said Mr. Logan, who is married to Calendar Girl Lynda Logan. “A little thing we did 10 years ago in a little village in Yorkshire has suddenly mushroomed into this.”
As women of a “certain age,” they hoped people would see their original calendar as “a bit of fun,” and expected they might sell a hundred calendars to family and friends—if they were lucky. Instead, the Girls have sold upwards of half a million calendars, have had a major Hollywood film made about their lives featuring superstars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and now have a new stage play about them in London’s West End.
One of the most unexpected places Ms. Baker ended up during these last 10 years was on the cover of the British Methodist Church’s national magazine, Flame. The magazine used her calendar photo as Miss December to grace the cover of their Jan./Feb. 2004 issue.
Over the years, not everyone has been so sure that a bunch of middle-aged women taking their clothes off for charity is a good thing. However, John Parker, the late editor of Flame magazine, would have begged to disagree.
“The Calendar Girls’ story shows yet again that God is there for us in all aspects of life,” Dr. Parker said in a recent interview. “Out of suffering, sadness and loss there can come in different ways, greater love for others, creative vision, happiness and hope for the future.” Countless Calendar Girls fans around the world will be saying a loud “Amen” to that.
Well-known British actress Patricia Hodge, who portrayed Angela in the stage play, says that taking on the role of a Calendar Girl meant understanding the path taken by these exceptional women.
“To imagine what a step it was for a group of women from a small village in the Yorkshire Dales to step outside the box and allow themselves to have photos taken, and put themselves possibly in the firing line of their local community, well I think that’s real bravery,” said Ms. Hodge. It is clear from the audience’s response to the play, she added, that this story—which begins with a terrible tragedy—has tremendous power.
“We have women and men on their feet mouthing the words “Thank you” at the end of a performance,” said Ms. Hodge.
Of the original 11 Calendar Girls, six continue to make public appearances together and raise money for Leukemia Research. They are amazed and delighted that 10 years later, people still seek them out to say how much their story has given them hope in the midst of loss and life threatening illness.
“It’s lovely when you go somewhere and give a talk,” said Calendar Girl Christine Clancy, “and someone comes up and thanks you, and tells you that they’ve been inspired by what we’ve done.”
Beryl Bamforth, now 75—and said by all the rest of the Girls to have the best body—hopes that they can still help people to “get off their bums and do something” to make a difference. Lynda Logan says she hopes their story will give help those “suffering with illness and loss not to feel quite so alone.”
In a recent CBS Sunday Morning broadcast, reporter Richard Roth talked to the Girls about what it’s been like to spend all this time in media spotlight. Ten years older, wiser and feistier, the Girls say they are “a bit more confident” and have learned that “you never know what you can do until you get out there and try.”
They credit their shared sense of humor, devotion to each other and a thick skin as having been a great help along the way. Tricia Stewart, portrayed by Helen Mirren in the Hollywood film, would be the first to admit they have had to be made of “stern stuff” to weather some of the media scrutiny that’s come their way.
Roz Fawcett says being a Calendar Girl has given her practical survival tips like, “Smile all you can” and “For heaven’s sake, keep your chin up” if you want to avoid getting caught with a double chin.
There’s another development, too. Ms. Baker has found love again with Anglican vicar Charles Knowles, a long time friend of John and hers. They were married in 2005.
It certainly has been quite a journey for the Yorkshire Calendar Girls. But Angela still maintains they are who they always have been. “We’re just ordinary,” she said. “My friend Tricia had this great idea to do this calendar, and the world has taken us to their hearts. And I hope after all this time they see we’re still just the same people.”
The Rev. LaCamera is an ordained United Methodist minister working as a journalist and hospital chaplain in Manchester, England. www.kathleenlacamera.com.
As women of a “certain age,” they hoped people would see their original calendar as “a bit of fun,” and expected they might sell a hundred calendars to family and friends—if they were lucky. Instead, the Girls have sold upwards of half a million calendars, have had a major Hollywood film made about their lives featuring superstars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and now have a new stage play about them in London’s West End. 
