Traders bare their assets as they team up for naked calendar fighting cancer
A town’s traders have teamed up to bare their assets as part of a naked calendar shoot raising money to fight cancer.
Liam Stanbridge, 30, rallied a dozen businesses from across Horsham, West Sussex, to take part in the risqué photoshoot.
The 30-year-old, who works at Brock Taylor estate agents, was motivated to act by a health scare in his own life.
He said: “My own experience was discovering a lump and leaving it for ages before going to get it checked purely out of fear.
“Thankfully for me, it wasn't anything serious, but this isn’t the case for everyone and I wanted to raise money for Cancer Research to help make it a much less-scary diagnosis in the future.”
Inspired by Nigel Cole’s hit 2003 film Calendar Girls, Liam searched for volunteers on a local Facebook page.
He was taken aback by the scale of the response and said: “I was inundated with companies wanting to take part.
“Asking people to get naked isn’t something that we do often, but people were more than happy to as it was all for a good cause.
“As you can imagine, some were less keen and once the photo shoot got closer they withdrew, but even then there were plenty more waiting in the wings.”
And once the awkwardness of being naked at work had passed, Liam said it was a liberating experience for those that took part.
He said: “I think people found it a lot more fun and freeing than they thought they would.
“Obviously there were some nerves, as stripping off in front of work colleagues isn’t the norm. However, local photographer Toby Phillips did a great job keeping it light-hearted and got rid of any nerves quite quickly.”
The calendar also supports the Be Real Campaign – a campaign which promotes body positivity.
“The Be Real Campaign is the other cause I wanted to raise awareness about,” said Liam.
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“For most of my life I have struggled with body image issues, but I have finally started to feel confident in my own skin.
“I wanted to show that everyone's body is different and that is normal – we all come in different shapes and sizes and you shouldn’t compare yourself constantly to what you see on social media."
Calendars cost £10 and can be paid for in person, or online, with collection available from Brock Taylor, The Olive Branch pub, Monte Forte pizzeria or Pretty Things tea room, all of which took part and can be found in Horsham.
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