A group of women inspired by the film ‘Calendars Girls’ have raised thousands of dollars for charity by baring all for the camera.

The ladies stripped off last year for their own tongue-in-cheek calendar and have now handed over a cheque for $17,762 to the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust (BHCT).

Model Jill Kempe said the idea came about after the group of friends watched ‘Calendar Girls’, a movie about an English Women’s Institute chapter’s fundraising efforts for a local hospital.

“That was our inspiration. It was the catalyst — a little gem of the idea. It’s just a group of ladies who see each other once a week. We decided we would do this and find a benefit for it. If we were going to do it, we were going to do it with a proper benefit for the sales. So these are all the proceeds of the sales.”

The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) Exposed calendar featured humorous photos of “fully exposed” yet cleverly covered models and was produced with financial support from Butterfield Bank.

Mrs. Kempe and KEMH Exposed organiser and model Peggy Couper presented BHCT deputy chairman and Butterfield Bank president Alan Thompson with the money, which will go into a general fund for hospital patients.

Mr. Thompson said. “That’s a lot of money. It shows what you can do with a creative idea and a commitment to see it through. The Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust is very appreciative of the efforts of everyone involved with the KEMH Exposed calendar.”

Mrs. Couper said: “We really thought the hospital was the one thing that embraces everybody. And we used a cross-section of the community as well as models.”

She added that the women did not intend to repeat the experience. “We feel once was enough. We thought our calendar was a novel idea at the time and we are glad we did our bit.”