NEVER mind the famous calendar girls of the Rylstone Women's Institute. Bury has its own pin-ups in the shape of regulars at the town's Swan Hotel.
As reported in last year's Bury Times, a dozen male regulars at the Tottington Road pub stripped down to their birthday suits to produce a calendar to raise money for the Tony Reay Memorial Fund. Now, thanks to their efforts, a cheque has been presented to Christie Hospital.
The fundraising began after father-of-two Tony, a popular face at the Swan, lost his battle with cancer. Family and friends established a memorial fund and have been organising a number of events.
Good news is that the risque calendar, featuring the willing models in a host of typical pub actions including darts and pool, has raised an impressive £2,230. This takes the total raised in Tony's memory to more than £7,000 for Europe's largest cancer treatment and research centre.
Pub landlady Susan Joyce said: "When the lads decided to do a calendar to add to the fundraising we already do, there was surprisingly no shortage of volunteers. Everyone got together in the pub one Sunday morning for the photo shoot. But I'd forgotten it was happening. So, I got the shock of my life when I walked into the pub and realised what was going on.
"Everyone had a great time, though. Even though it has been done before, it was a fun way to raise money for a very worthy cause."
The pub's "models" and other fundraisers got together to hand over their takings to Christie representatives Bob and Ilse Splaine.
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