A group of friends have stripped off for a charity calendar.

Fundraising team Bruce’s Babes was set up in memory of Bruce Henwood, who died from cancer earlier this year aged 50.

His friends decided to join forces to raise money for St Barnabas House Hospice in Worthing, which cared for Mr Henwood.

Their latest effort has involved the team and their supporters posing, in most cases wearing only a few bits of clothing, for photographs to create a 2013 calendar.

Mr Henwood’s widow, Kate, said: “Our son, Ollie, and I regularly visited the hospice throughout Bruce’s care and we grew very close to every member of the team.

“Since Bruce’s death we have received the upmost care from the hospice’s family services team and have made it our aim to give as much back to the hospice as we possibly can.

“When Bruce was a patient in the day hospice, he wanted to give something back for everything they did for him, he really enjoyed going there.

Calendar Girls

“The film Calendar Girls used to be one of our favourites, and one day we were talking about mad ways to raise money and he said, ‘You could always do a calendar’ –' and so the idea grew.

“So many people have got involved, friends, people from work, church and family members.

“Once the word spread about what we were doing we couldn’t keep them away. Then local businesses got involved and offered to sponsor pages, and so it went on.”

All of the money raised from the calendar will go towards the hospice’s work caring for patients just like Mr Henwood and their families.

The hospice costs more than £5 million a year to run but because it is not part of the NHS, less than a quarter of these costs are state funded.

It means most of the money has to be raised through voluntary donations from the local community.

Calendars cost £9 and can be purchased via www.justgiving.com/BrucesBabesCalendar.

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