THE Calendar Girls had no inkling of what they were starting when they posed nude for the Rylstone & District Women's Institute calendar.
But five years on and the fund-raising stunt is now an internationally-known tale, told in newspaper articles and on the big screen.
Since then the women have raised a total of £1m for the Leukaemia Research Fund and seen themselves portrayed by famous actress such as Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.
The calendar was, in fact, the beginning of a rollercoaster ride for the real Calendar girls, Tricia Stewart, who thought up the idea of the Pirelli-style calendar, and Angela Baker, whose husband died of cancer and in whose name they raised the money.
Now a new book, The Calendar Girls Story, published by Dalesman at £9.99, also in aid of charity, shows how the calendar and its subsequent success affected everyone's lives. It also introduces the honorary calendar girl, the photographer who found himself written out of the film.
As Julie Walters says in the foreword: "The story touches on the larger issues of life. It is about bereavement and friendship, about losing your sense of self and then being able to regain it.
"The women's experiences also show the importance of a strong community and how this can help the people in it - and that is something that a lot of places have lost in our modern society."
