The Burning Desires 2019 calendar is filled with steamy, playful photos.
But the models are no spring chickens. Instead, they are senior women in their 60s and 70s wanting to help build a fire hall in the small town of Edgewood, B.C.
The fire station is almost complete, but is missing a few key elements.
“At this point, we are actually a fire hall without water,” said volunteer fire chief Bill Dummett. “We’re looking at probably $15,000 to $20,000 to complete it. That would get our water and sewer completed and finish our electrical.”
The women got the fundraising idea after attending a Vernon theatre performance of ‘Calendar Girls,’ a show based on a British comedy film about a group of older Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise funds for cancer research.
“You can tell by the calendars that most of us didn’t have a lot on, which was a really different experience,” said Miss October Lynda McNutt. “We had 500 calendars printed initially. We’re almost sold out. We would love nothing more than to have to get another print and achieve or exceed our goal.”
Photographer Tasha Hall normally uses models who look and sound a great deal different than these seniors.
“I usually photograph pets, dogs and farm animals,” Hall said. “But these were fabulous models. They were perfect. They all listened really well. They were very excited and very into it.”
Coincidentally, Miss June hails from a town outside Skipton, England, where the original Calendar Girls movie was filmed.
“We’re had nothing but positive comments. People seem to love it and we’ve been told that we’re inspirational and real great feminists,” McNutt said.
The 11 women agree that this was an incredibly positive and memorable experience.
“We’re really formed this bond and we watched each others’ backs and helped each other through the photo shoots,” McNutt said.
The Burning Desires calendars are priced at $25. To purchase one, send an email to theburningdesires11@gmail.com.