Women take it all off to honour friend

Retired teacher Diaan le Grange and her mates bravely shed their clothes in honour of a friend they lost to cancer.

Aged between 34 and 78, the "girls" from East London have been photographed in some cheeky poses for a calendar to raise money for cancer awareness following the death of their friend, Mandy du Plessis, in January.

The proceeds from the sale of the calendars, scheduled for release in January, will be donated to the Cancer Association of South Africa.

"The calendar is an unusual and fun way of raising awareness," said Deborah Stanford, a professional cardiac nurse and amateur photographer who conceived and created the calendar.

In seeking out models, Stanford and co-photographer, Gai Clarke, warned them that a sense of humour, not a toned figure, was key.

The women live in Cove Rock, an exclusive upmarket gated estate on the outskirts of East London.

Le Grange, 69, said there were a couple of awkward moments during the shoots - such as when a swarm of bees suddenly interrupted a shoot while they were hanging out washing on a sun deck.

And during the initial days of the shoot, when the women nervously huddled close to each other, "someone would often screech that they could feel someone's breast on their back," said Le Grange.

"Thankfully this group is full of amazing women, and everyone was so supportive of one another. It didn't take long before we were all quite comfortable with it, and we had a lot of fun."

Izelle Adams, a legal advisor, said it initially took a lot of persuasion to get all the women to strip. "There was just a handful of us on the first day."

However, said Adams, when other women in the estate realised the impact the calendar would have in raising cancer awareness, they quickly signed up. "Eleven of the women have been directly affected by cancer... they've lost husbands or close friends and relatives," she said.

Stanford said some of the images would be posted to Facebook and Twitter to drum up publicity.