A DOZEN charitable women quaffed Champagne as they bared all to raise cash for Cancer Research UK in a saucy photo shoot.
Inspired by the 2003 movie Calendar Girls, the women from Gidea Park-based Sweet Charity got their kit off for a new calendar which goes on sale on Friday.
The group has raised more than £150,000 for Cancer Research in the last eight years.
For mum-of-three Dawn Jacques, 51 – or, if you prefer, Mrs November – the experience of posing naked for a camera was "completely liberating".
She said: "It was a really lovely feeling. We were all women together who stretched their boundaries.
"It was real girl power and hopefully makes a difference, it's helping us and helping others.
"The women came along, we got them at ease by giving them Champagne – 19 bottles of it – and they had their hair, make-up and not a lot else."
Themes used across the months include "back to school" in September and others feature strategically placed balloons and hats.
In 2000, Dawn lost her sister to breast cancer at the age of 48, leaving behind three children.
Her friend, Denise Cutbill, 51, lost her auntie to cancer and her neighbour, Clare George, 43, lost her father to the disease on her wedding day.
The women decided to transform their grief into positive energy and Sweet Charity was born.
Their first event, a winter ball, has since become an annual sell-out event, and it was at this year's soirée that the trio decided to auction off nine places in the calendar – each representing a month – to their female guests, with the hosts occupying the other three spots.
"There were younger women that wanted to do it but we kept it for the older women this time," Dawn said.
She added: "You had women from all walks of life: a retired businesswoman, a couple who work in schools, women in high-powered jobs in banks, housewives and an accountant.
"None of them had ever done anything like this before in their lives, it was a real journey for them, it was fantastic."
Last year, Dawn, Denise and Clare received service awards from Professor Carlos Caldas, the director of Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, for their fundraisers, which have also included golf days, quizzes and fancy-dress events.
Dawn said: "Professor Caldas told us the work he is doing now is so exciting that he cannot sleep at night, and it kind of really makes you think you have got to keep going."
To purchase a calendar, e-mail sweet.charity@mail.com
