BRAVE members of Kemerton Women's Institute (WI) have bared all for a calendar in a bid to raise vital funds for two charities.

Following in the footsteps of Knapeley WI's famed 'Calendar Girls', the group of 15 women from Kemerton, near Evesham, will launch their nude calendar at The Crown tonight (Thursday).

Linda Marcham, from the WI, said they decided to strip off for the charity calendar after the idea was suggested by a member of their group.

"Everyone looked at her like she was mad, and then we thought about it and people thought - okay let's give it a go," she remembered.

The calendar features the plucky fundraisers in a variety of tasteful poses, such as standing around a piano singing carols, or bedecked in their finest hats and jewellery for the Cheltenham races.

And January's opening photograph shows the WI women wrapped in an enormous, hand-knitted scarf.

The ladies are aged between their 30s to their 90s, and Ms Marcham said they all had a "fun" time putting together the calendar.

She said: "We got two wonderful local photographers to give their services free of charge. The calendar is amazing, it shows what good fun we had when we were shooting it.

"Trying to wrap a 100-ft scarf round everyone was quite hard - it just turned out to be really good fun.

"It is beautifully tasteful, much like the original Calendar Girls' calendar."

All the proceeds raised by the naked calendar will be donated to St Richard's Hospice and Guideposts, a social care and mental health charity.

The calendar will be launched tonight (Thursday) at 7pm at The Crown Inn, in High Street, Kemerton.

For more information about the WI visit thewi.org.uk