EVERYBODY, it seems, wants to get their kit off for charity nowadays.
But 14 years ago a trailblazing group of Huddersfield footballers appeared on the Examiner’s front page stripping off for a calendar.
Now that same group is planning to do it again – in tribute to one player who died of cancer.
Chris Mosley lost his brave battle against the disease in October aged 48 and his Wooldale Wanderers colleagues thought it a good idea to undress once more to raise funds for the club and Chris’s chosen charity, The Woodland Trust.
Co-organiser Andrew Wray, who appeared as October in the original calendar, said: “In 15 years, time has not been kind to many of the players.
“Weight gain, hair loss and in some cases hair gain have all gone some way to lessening our ease on the eye”.
Charity calendars are commonplace nowadays, especially following the release of the film Calendar Girls in 2003.
But in 1995 the Wanderers were ahead of their time.
Wray said: “We did one the year before in our football kit, but it never took off.
“When the naked calendar was suggested instead, the lads didn’t need much encouraging.
“It’s not very original now though.”
Chris was still playing for Wooldale just a year before his death, helping them rise to fourth place in the Huddersfield and District League Division One last season.
His son will take his place in the calendar, but the plan is for all the other players from the 1995 original to appear again.
Co-organiser Jason Goldsborough, a centre-back with Wooldale for 15 years and Mr July, said: “Chris would be jealous that he’s not involved.
“What we have at the moment is eleven players madly in the gym, trying to lose some weight.
“I think I’m the only one who hasn’t put on a few pounds since we did the last one.”
The 1995 photos will feature alongside the 2010 ones in the calendar, which should go on sale from July.
That’s when people can see exactly how well or not the players have aged.
The Wanderers have also made a bench in memory of Chris.
The proposal is that it will sit alongside their pitch and be surrounded by a number of trees.
The Woodland Trust is one of the country’s leading forest conservation charities and campaigns to protect woodland cover and increase the understanding and enjoyment of woods.
