Gardiner girls go starkers for charity

Eighteen staff from Gardiner Security’s head office in Rochdale have posed for ‘Calendar Girls 2005’ – a first for the security product distributor.

The idea came from head office receptionist Yvonne Seddon. Her daughter Helen’s school friend Clare Drogan died of leukaemia, and it is to her memory that the calendar is dedicated. Funds raised will help Manchester Children’s Hospitals provide better equipment, more research and a brighter environment for young sufferers.

Yvonne Seddon said the idea came earlier this year, at the time the film Calendar Girls was being heavily promoted.

“We’d been doing other things quite regularly to raise money for charity, but this really caught our imagination,” she said. “So when so many other girls on the staff said they would volunteer to do it too, the company agreed to publish it.”

Each month is themed, with pastiches of images from the film American Beauty and the famous Christine Keeler shot, as well as seasonal scenes including the Fourth of July, Halloween, beach babes, Guy Fawkes and Christmas. Every month has also been sponsored by some of Gardiner’s leading security equipment suppliers.

The Gardiner girls who agreed to take part in the charity calendar were Yvonne Butterworth, Julie Hartley, Andrea Slade, Sarah Crook, Donna Tordoff, Jody Sockett, Karen Griffiths, Helen Seddon, Yvonne Seddon, Bev Potts, Debbie Seddon, Rachel Crompton, Kim Whitehead, Pam Clarke, Pat Kennerley, Michelle Ransted, Julia O’Neill, and Mandy Webb.