Calendar Girls is the heart warming tale of a group of ordinary women who did something extraordinary which has become a global theatrical phenomenon.
The show returns to Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 26 to Saturday 31st March for the very last time – making it the last Yorkshire venue to receive the touring production of this great Yorkshire story.
To mark this last stand an all star cast has been assembled including Loose Woman Lynda Bellingham, Strictly’s Camilla Dallerup, Emmerdale’s Lisa Riley and Hi Di Hi’s Ruth Madoc.
The story revolves round Angela Baker whose husband John dies suddenly from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. So her friends from the Women’s Institute in the North Yorkshire village of Cracoe decided to put together their own version of a Pirelli-style calendar to generate funds for a new sofa for the hospital where John had been treated.
“John never believed we would do anything about it,” says Angela Baker. “’You’re all talk’ he’d say, ‘it’ll never happen.’ But a few weeks after the funeral Tricia came armed with her clipboard and said ‘Are we going to do this calendar or not? Even if we don’t sell any, at least we’ll have tried to do something.’”
To date the naked ladies have raised over £2million for Leukaemia Research, have been the subject of a smash-hit Hollywood film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and filled more column inches than they can count.
“We’ve done the most amazing things but we’ve kept our feet on the ground and we’ve never forgotten why we did what we did,” continues Angela. “We didn’t do the calendar because we wanted to be famous but because we wanted to raise money in John’s memory. It has been the most marvellous experience.”
- Calendar Girls is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 26th to Saturday 31st March.
- Tickets are priced from £12.50 – £29.50. Book by calling box office on 0844 848 2700 or online at leedsgrandtheatre.com
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