READERS need not avert their eyes, the Halwill WI have not created a nude calendar but one inspired by a book of naked, knitted characters.

Every year the National Federation of the WI produce a calendar and this year the Halwill WI decided to create their own separate one.

Each month’s picture was created by members of the WI knitting a character, which were then portrayed in a similar way to the original WI calendar that inspired the now famous ‘Calendar Girls’ film. All the ‘models’ are naked, but are knitted.

The knitted WI calendar was the brainchild of president Ann Goodspeed. She said: “Our calendar was my idea because I’d seen a book called ‘Nudinits’, which was an entire village of knitted characters all posed in scenes of their village.

“It made me laugh out loud and seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I thought we could recreate the scenes from the original WI calendar that inspired the now famous film.”

Ann put her idea forward to the Halwill WI members during one of their meetings. She immediately had six volunteers who were ready to take on the task of following patterns and work began to create the intricate knitted figures.

She said: “It probably took somewhere in the region of six to seven months. We had to knit all the props too.”

The calendar was great fun to create and Ann added: “It brings a smile to everyone’s face and we have sold over 100 copies so far.”

All the proceeds from the calendar are to be shared between projects within the village — including the project to install a ladies lavatory in the village hall.

The calendar can be purchased from the grocery store and the hardware shop in Halwill Junction ‘Four Candles’.