Calendar Girls

When Annie's husband John dies of leukaemia, she and best friend Chris resolve to raise money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. They manage to persuade four fellow Women's Institute members, Cora, Celia, Ruth and Jessie, to pose nude with them for an 'alternative' calendar, with a little help from hospital porter and local amateur photographer Lawrence.

The news of the women's charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but Chris and Annie's friendship is put to the test under the strain of their new-found fame.

'Calendar Girls' is based on the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund.

Cast Characters

Gwen Livingstone Chris

Frankie Baskerville Annie

Shelley Bethan Morgan Celia

Sarah Jones Cora

Rosamund Grummitt Ruth

Yve Price Jessie

Claire Williams Marie

Bleddyn Jones John

Jerry Grummitt Rod

Matthew Oliver Lawrence

Claire Watts Brenda Hulse

Val Rosser Lady Cravenshire

Fay Grummitt/Emma Percy Elaine

Christopher T. Harris Liam

Keeping in the spirit of the theme for 'Calendar Girls' and in aid of local cancer charities, we decided to make our very own 'alternative' calendar. The calendars are available for purchase here and 25% of the money from the sale of each calendar is being donated to the charities we are supporting. We also opened the show with a very special 'Gala Night' performance to mark the event, which included an auction of prizes kindly donated to us by local companies. All of the proceeds have gone to charity.

We were the very first Welsh Amateur Group to stage this play. In honour of this, we were visited by the BBC and ITV respectively to document our experiences and share it with the people of Wales by broadcasting us on the news. You can find the footage from the BBC here and from ITV here.

Further pictures of the show, including our calendar, can be found here.

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Here is a review of the show, written by Helen Morgan of the South Wales Argus.

It's not every day you see half a dozen women strip almost completely on stage - and hats off to the ladies of Blackwood Little Theatre for their bravery in undressing for this production of Calendar Girls.

They are the first amateur group in Wales to ever perform this play, and the choice has proved to be a huge success - as they have been performing to full houses all week.

Frankie Baskerville, Gwen Livingstone, Shelley Bethan Morgan, Ros Grummitt, Yve Price and Sarah Jones are the members of a Yorkshire WI who decide to produce a nude calendar featuring themselves, to raise money for a local hospital after one of their husbands dies of leukaemia.

The scenes where they bare almost all - with just a few props such as oranges, cakes and flowers to protect their modesty - are both hilarious and very well directed by Peta Maidman.

Their calendar proves an unprecedented hit and sells so many that it massively exceeds its target. And the scenes where the women read the letters from their supporters, saying the calendar has helped them laugh for the first time since they lost a loved one, are extremely moving and a highlight of his production.

There are also very sound performances from Bleddyn Jones as the dying husband, Matthew Oliver as the lucky photographer, and Christopher T.Harris as Liam, the bossy news reporter.

Overall it is a truly enjoyable evening, great fun with an important message - and the opening night's profits are being donated to four local cancer charities. A 2013 calendar with pictures of the production has also been printed and is on sale at the theatre - some of the profits from this are also being donated to the charities.

The play runs until Saturday, but it is return tickets only now.