ELTHAM: Pictures - friends strip off for charity calendar (From News Shopper)

ELTHAM: Pictures - friends strip off for charity calendar

3:50pm Saturday 16th January 2010 in News By Kelly Smale

A group of friends have posed naked for a calendar to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. Organiser, Gemma Simms, spoke to reporter KELLY SMALE about stripping off for charity.

Click here to view gallery of pictures from 'naked' calendar

AFTER watching the show Calendar Girls at the West End Gemma Simms decided to make her own calendar for charity.

She rallied round 11 of her friends aged 22 to 30 who stripped off to pose naked for the calendar.

The 28-year-old said: “We all had to get naked, but being such good friends it wasn’t uncomfortable.

"We cracked open a bottle of wine and all muddled in, helping each other out and advising each other on what pose looked the best and how to hide our bad bits.”

Miss Simms decided to raise money for the British Heart Foundation because her family and friends have suffered from heart problems.

Her 59-year-old dad, Joe Simms, almost died in June after suffering heart failure and will be on medication for the rest of his life.

The hairdresser said: “We always thought my dad was as fit as a fiddle and you never think anything like this would happen to you.”

Her best friend’s niece, Macey Darbey, was born last year with three serious heart defects and needs continuous support from heart specialists.

Miss Simms said: “Macey's family and close friends all feel so lucky to have such a brave little girl in their lives and are overwhelmed by the continuous support from the heart specialists.”

She added: “Supporting the charity is our way of saying thank you to the excellent heart doctors and consultants we have in England and will help them to continue with there life saving work.”

Each woman was known as a Sweetheart and given a different trade for each month including a mechanic, plumber and a gardener.

Miss Simms of Crookston Road, Eltham, said: “We call eachother sweetheart quite a lot and it also coincides with the heart foundation.”

It was up to the individual Sweetheart to gather her props for the shoot, which most of them borrowed from their boyfriends and dads.

Miss Simms said: “The hardest bit was organising a day everybody could do for the shoot. It happened to be the last sunny day of the summer, which must have been fate as the sun was shining all day for us.”

The Sweethearts hope to raise £2,000 by selling 300 calendars as well as tickets from their christmas launch party.

Each calendar costs £7.50 and are available to buy from The Pelton Arms pub, Pelton Road, Greenwich, and Lucy's Kitchen, Footscray Road, New Eltham.

To order a calendar contact Gemma Simms at gemgems4@hotmail.co.uk