Duncan Harley

All they ever really wanted to do was raise some cash to buy a settee for the local cancer ward but when word got out that Rylstone & District Women's Institute were planning a Pirelli style Christmas calendar, things soon spiralled out of control. It’s a well-worn tale. A bevy of rural friends decide to publish a fund-raiser for cancer support following a death. John has died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and wife Angela’s pals at the Rylstone & District Women's Institute set about creating a wall calendar as something for her to focus on during this most difficult time.  However, instead of the familiar Women’s Institute images of sheep infested landscapes, ecclesiastical spires and cricketed village greens, they decide to bare all. The 1998 launch of the raunchy publication attracted widespread press coverage and very soon the print run reached into the tens of thousands. A book and a film followed along with international fame. Described as a group of ordinary ladie...