Express & Star

Calendar boys bare all to raise money for cancer charity in memory of wife

The husband of a woman who died from cancer has taken on a cheeky task to raise funds for the charity which helped her.

Published

David Bryant has created a nude Calendar Girls-style calendar with help from his son Luke and a number of his friends to raise funds for Compton Care.

The 58-year-old from Penn in Wolverhampton said he had wanted to do something to thank Compton Care for the treatment they gave his wife Carol before her death from bile duct cancer aged just 56 on October 12, 2019.

He said the unusual idea came to him after he took on a sprint triathlon in 2020, an event which made him think of more creative ways to raise funds.

He said: "When Carol died, I needed something to focus on and pay back to Compton for the kindness they showed her in her last week, something which was amazing, so I started training for the triathlon.

"I finally did that last September and raised around £3,000, which was great, but it left me thinking of what to do next and it was after seeing that one of my friends had done a Calendar Girls calendar that I thought of doing that.

"I spoke to a friend of mine about getting it printed and we eventually worked out that we could do 500 for £10 each to raise £5,000."

David Bryant with some of the nude calendar photos
June's photo
December's photo

The calendar features Mr Bryant, Luke and the rest of the group in various poses with a theme of "Men at Work", all while posing completely naked, apart from a few props.

Mr Bryant said the group had been very willing to take part and the whole session, which saw around 500 photos taken, had been filled with laughter.

He said he thought Carol would have got a kick out of seeing the calendar.

David and Carol pictured on holiday

He said: "I think it would have been right up her street and she would have laughed so much at it, as has everyone who's seen it.

"There have been lots of lovely gestures from the guys involved as well, with one asking everyone to donate to the charity on his birthday and another donating money from a charity work tuck shop.

"It's a unique way to thank a charity for all it did for me and my family and I would love to be able to collect the full amount for them."

To find out more and to donate, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/carols-calendar.