PROCEEDS from the sale of a calendar featuring cancer sufferers in body painting outfits is today on course to break the �20,000 mark.
PROCEEDS from the sale of a calendar featuring cancer sufferers in body painting outfits is today on course to break the �20,000 mark.
The volunteers agreed to bare all for former Ipswich student Carolyn Roper and their bravery has quickly paid dividends to Cancer Research UK.
With some calendars being sent as far away as Canada, Singapore and New Zealand, the total funds are now in excess of �17,000 since they went on sale in October.
And with more sales planned and extra money yet to come in, the organisers are confident of hitting their target.
The project was the brainchild of Esther Clark, who thought of the idea while undergoing treatment for breast cancer a year ago.
She said: “We are delighted. Although it is a calendar, it is of course much more than just that - it's a collection of twelve upbeat, positive, fun photos.
“It's a fantastic topic of conversation and it's a donation to an institution doing life-saving research.”
After being approached to help with the calendar, Miss Roper, a world body painting champion, transformed a church minister into a scarecrow and gave a pilot a skin-tight tuxedo.
Other images include a lady re-enacting Audrey Hepburn's iconic image from Breakfast at Tiffany's and a man given a shirt and apron while tossing a pancake.
Miss Roper said: “My area of work is generally quite shallow, so I try to lend my body painting to charities. It is important not to be self-involved.”
Miss Roper lived in Hadleigh for 16 years from the age of five and went to Suffolk College, where she studied art and design and beauty therapy.
It was while learning about make up that she discovered her talent for body painting and she won the world title for 2007/08 at a competition in Austria.
To buy a calendar or for more information, please call Esther Clark on 01403 272978, visit www.goodthingsinlife.co.uk or e-mail good calendar@aol.com.
Have you been involved in an interesting project for charity? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
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