Date with the Calendar Girls

Calendar girls (front row) Angela Baker (February), Beryl Bamforth (January) and Tricia Stewart (October) pictured with the rest of the committee

Wearing their trademark sunflowers, three of the original Calendar Girls visited Saddleworth to raise money at a major charity fund-raiser.

The ladies, who shot to fame after the launch of their first calendar 10 years ago, regaled a packed Oak Room at The White Hart at Lydgate with remarkable stories.

The fundraiser, a sell-out since June, benefited the Saddleworth branch of Cancer Research UK and Leukaemia Research, the girls charity.

The ladies told how their lives had changed and explained to the 200-strong audience how the idea was first conceived and the unexpected reaction it provoked.

The ladies have raised a massive £2million pounds for their charity and donated their fee from the glittering event to the fund.

Marjorie Stephinson, president of Saddleworth Cancer Research UK, said: “The Calendar Girls have been an inspiration to fundraisers around the world.”