‘Local Birds’ turn Calendar Girls for charity

It’s the florist shop photo-shoot that leaves little to the imagination.

A group of brave friends from East Cork have stripped off for a charity calendar — using strategically positioned blossoms, bouquets, cups, and trays of creamy buns to spare their blushes.

“Most of us are on the wrong side of 40,” said one of the organisers, Eileen Simpson. “But we’re proud to have produced a tasteful calendar you could display in your kitchen — one we hope you could show your children or your granny.

The 14 friends from Aghada, who have christened themselves the Local Birds, said they were inspired by the movie Calendar Girls. The logistics were organised by Ms Simpson, Demelza Buckley, Ciara Collins, and Rachel Sheehan.

Ciara said they scoured the parish to find the perfect location for each picture. “It was all very cloak and dagger initially so there was a lot of moonlight flitting and giggling involved. I dread to think how we would have explained ourselves if we’d been discovered.”

The cover-shot was arranged by photographer Thomas Tattan in Bloomsday Florist in Carrigtwohill, while sisters Rachel Sheehan and Sarah Ward posed naked on a 1950s car for August.

Members of the All-Ireland winning Cork ladies football team will help launch Local Birds 2014 at 8pm on Sunday, Nov 3, at Rosie’s Bar and Pepperstack Bistro, Lower Aghada.

The calendar, priced €10, will be on sale locally, with all proceeds being donated to the cancer unit at the Mercy University Hospital, and to the Cork Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association.