Calendar Madams!

I thought that I'd better do this story before the end of March, which it nearly is. Because, when I turn over the calendar to April, the picture that you see below will be hidden until March 2013!

Thanks to Lizaan and Louw Nel and Elmarie Louw

Now, tell me, do you recognise the youthful, naked figure reclining in the wheelbarrow? You probably don't, even my close friends have to squint their eyes........but it is ME! I am featured in the Jacobsbaai Ladies Forum Birthday Calendar as Madam March. Remember the movie 'Calendar Girls'? Well, we did a 'Calendar Madams' for the same reason, to raise funds for Cancer research. It came about after a party one evening and we were sitting about with our wine and generally chatting, and someone suggested doing a calendar. Well, two ladies really took it to heart and the idea grew into reality. They found sponsors for each month, and cameramen, make-up and hair ladies who volunteered their time and expertise to make sure that the end production was sleek, sophisticated, and worth every cent that we were hoping to charge. We also changed the format from a normal calendar for the year, to a 'Birthday Calendar' that could be used year after year.

We chose our own 'attire' or lack of it, our props, and location. Now, our ‘models’ ranged from early 50’s to early 80’s, so most of us needed the Vaseline smeared lens to ‘fuzz out’ our ‘laughter lines’. (Yes, stomachs do laugh as well, and thighs and hips……).However, I had visions of my photo showing a large fuzzy blob with handles, arum lilies and a front wheel, so we relied on the expertise of the photographers, who spent much of the time laughing with us, not at us, thankfully!

What fun we had! Each month has a different lady in a different pose. We have a lady in a small galvanised bath, one hiding behind watering cans, one lolling on a chaise on a sand dune seductively eyeing a cherry, one posing on a tractor, and for every shoot we had pink champagne to help the nerves! The more champagne we had, the more clothes came off!! My wheelbarrow, with flat wheel and rust, was dragged along a path and parked next to some rocks, and I held arum lilies from my garden to hide the wobbly bits! I expected that about five photos would be taken, but no, it was just like a proper shoot, and from the fifty or so that were taken, the best was chosen by a panel. I must admit, climbing in and out of my ‘kruiwa’ was the most awkward part! Eventually I kind of leaned sideways and rolled out, like a load of manure!

Our identities were kept a secret, can you see me?

For the cover page we were lucky enough to have a real celebrity. Steve Hofmeyr, (singer, actor and co-owner of our local hotel) was happy to dress like a pirate and sit for an hour or so in the freezing wind while we were posed and draped in two little boats. The pink champagne came in very useful then I can tell you, to keep the cold out of our bones! (Can you spot me? I am second from the far right).

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of pink champagne!

The frustrating part was waiting until the evening of the launch to see the finished product. They say the camera never lies, but we were all hoping that it had fibbed a little to be kind to us ‘wrinklies’! And we were not disappointed; the beautiful photos certainly did us proud. There we were, immortalised in flattering black and white with a touch of pink. Stunning! And on good quality, shiny paper!

The cheque was handed over, and received with thanks.

We raised over R35 000 for Cancer Research, and there are still some for sale.
Let me know, I shall accept an EFT and your little bit of glamour will be on its way. Signed too, if you like!