PICTURES of near-nude gamekeepers from the Ribble Valley are set to appear on walls across the globe after a fun charity calendar became a must-have Christmas gift.

Now the game-for-a-laugh gamekeepers have ordered another print run of their calendar to keep up with the demand for copies coming in from all over the world.

They struck on the idea of following in the footsteps of the WI's famous 'Calendar Girls' during a idle night in front of the bar at the Inn at Whitewell.

They initially hoped to raise £10,000 with their calendar - which has 13 months to cover the gaming year - to be split between Macmillan Cancer Relief and the National Gamekeepers Organised Charitable Trust.

But with the initial batch of 3,000 calendars selling out within weeks at four countryside events they attended - including the Country Landowners Association Game Fair at Blenheim Palace - and a second batch of 2,500 all but gone, the group are set to double their original target.

A further 1,000 calendars have now been ordered and John Clarke, head keeper of the Dunsop shoot, said it may not be their last.

He said: "It's been incredible, and more by word of mouth than anything. We've had publicity locally, but we've only been to four or five events.

"What we've found is one person has bought a calendar, told their friend, they've rung in or written to us and ordered one, and maybe a couple more to give as presents.

"We've had orders from literally everywhere. Canada, America, Kenya, Australia, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, pretty much anywhere you want to name.

"We think it's just come from worth of mouth and people seeing it on things like newspaper websites."

"It's been great, although I do find the idea of being nearly naked on thousands of walls all over the world next year horrifying!

John added: "We are not sure if we will print more after the next 1,000 because we don't want to be left with a load so if people want one they should order now.

"It really did all start as a laugh but apparently everyone wants one."