Traders strip for calendar

The women hope to raise thousands for good causes

A group of market traders have stripped bare to pose for a nude calendar to raise money for charity.

The dozen women from Abergavenny, south Wales, dropped their inhibitions and used props including Welsh flags to cover their modesty for their brave fundraising event.

The stunt - inspired by the Rylstone Women's Institute naked calendar of 2000 - was the idea of florist Karen Reed.

She managed to persuade 11 of her female colleagues from other stalls at the Monmouthshire town market to bare all for the cheeky calendar.

She is hoping that the sale of the full-colour calendar will raise £16,000 for two Welsh charities.

"It all came about after seeing the WI calendar," said Ms Reed.

"I thought it would be a brilliant idea to do something like this to raise money.

"So I had a chat to a the girls and it didn't take much to talk them around to the idea.

"They are all really easy going and it was good fun," she said.

Abergavenny is a sleepy market town

The calendar, which is being launched at a fund raising event held in Abergavenny on Saturday night, is being sold for £3.95, with all the proceeds going towards the St David's Foundation Hospice Care and to the Noah's Ark Appeal, to build the first children's hospital in Wales.

"All of the pictures reflect what we sell on our market stalls," said Ms Reed.

"I'm a florist so I have some strategically placed flowers.

"The pictures show us in a very different light, to how people normally see us," she laughed.

The launch of the calendar coincides with the release of the second WI nude calendar from the Rylstone branch in north Yorkshire.

As well as six WI members who posed first time around, it also features naked pictures of the actresses including Helen Mirren and Julie Walters who play the parts of the women in the film of their story, Calendar Girls.