Titchmarsh ladies strip off for 2024 calendar in aid of Cancer Research

These ladies have been inspired by their friend to strip off for a very good cause.

As a result of their friend Diane Pinnock’s ongoing battle with a rare type of cancer, the ladies of Titchmarsh are following in the footsteps of Knapely Women’s Institute to raise funds for Cancer Research, specifically skin cancer.

The feisty females are stripping off to create The Titchmarsh Country Girls Calendar, which will reflect all the glorious seasons of the British climate.

Having been diagnosed with sino-nasal mucosal melanoma in 2021, Diane has already gone through extensive surgery, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, and is awaiting various scans before yet another operation for her rare condition.

But compiling the calendar has offered a welcome distraction for her and her brave buddies from around the village, who range in age from 49 to 75 – and as with the film Calendar Girls, released in 2003, the cast for the Titchmarsh version come from various walks of life.

The aim is the same, of raising money for a worthy charity, and as with the hit movie’s characters, these women have had some fun in the process.

At 62-years-old, Diane used to run a gardening business, but now enjoys time with her husband Steve and beloved dog Sidney, and just being in the great outdoors.

And that is where the pictures for the 2024 calendar have been taken, in the lush, pastoral scenery surrounding the village, featuring the village friends who are hoping to raise at least £5,000.

Pete ‘Moose’ Jousiffe, also a resident of Titchmarsh, was the very patient photographer handed the task of coaxing these women into showing more than just their faces and a well-turned ankle behind greenery, holding a strategically placed lamb or other imaginative props.

Finally, all 11 ladies come together for a festive group toast in December and round off an often frivolous, full colour but beautifully presented A3-sized calendar.

Other locals have generously chipped in with sponsorship coming from the butchers, auctioneers, curtain makers, carpenters and more, with everyone involved very much onboard with the idea of supporting both Diane and Cancer Research.

And come September they will be sharing a barbeque and a few drinks at the local village shop for the launch of Titchmarsh’s shared endeavour.

If you’d like to find out how a wheelbarrow containing a naked lady can create an utterly charming scene, or who else but Barbie might drive a pink tractor, it’s all in the calendar.

The calendar will be available from Titchmarsh Village Shop, friends and other local outlets for £15 following the launch on September 2.

Those who are really keen to get one of the calendars can pay a £5 deposit early to ensure you get a copy.

Just this week skin specialists at Kettering General Hospital have urged people to be aware of the cancer dangers of sun exposure this summer and to cover-up and be careful.

The advice follows a skin surveillance day held by the hospital from May 3 to 5 at Prospect House in Kettering, attended by 633 members of the public.

Of those some 50 were diagnosed with a skin cancer of some kind, including the most serious, and potentially life-threatening kind of cancer, malignant melanoma.