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Our latest team strip

Betty Anderson
7/11/2007

WILMSLOW rugby club’s latest strip leaves little to the imagination.

The Wolves have bared their teeth – and lots more – in a naked calendar to raise funds for the club.

It is Pownall Park’s answer to the ladies of Rylstone and District Women’s Institute in Yorkshire, whose naked ambition led to the Hollywood movie Calendar Girls.

With only odd-shaped balls to protect their modesty, the rough and ready rugby boys strike a series of saucy seasonal poses for a professionally photographed 2008 calendar that will go on sale soon.

Everyone from business professionals to students have pitched in and done their bit for the calendar, which was the brainchild of 3rd XV player Matt Solomon and another player’s Mum, Donna McMurdock. It was pulled together by the club’s business development chief Colin McKevitt.

"There’s no place for hookers in this classy line-up of beefcake, and it took surprisingly little persuasion to get them to take their kit off, even if the photographer was a woman," said a club spokesman.

The calendar, sponsored by The Flower Shop in Water Lane, was captured by Wilmslow professional photographer Andrea Petch in undoubtedly one of the most unusual shoots of her career.

"It made a pleasant change from babies, families and weddings. The lads were really good fun and so good to work with," said Andrea, whose studios are in Church Street, Wilmslow.

"They had a few ideas to start with, I added a few more and it worked really well. They were game for a laugh and the final product is fantastic."

The tastefully shot calendar was ‘shot’ at Wilmslow's Pownall Park ground, with players posing all over the club with only rugby balls and various ‘props’ to hide their modesty.

Cover boy for the calendar entitled "The Boys of Wilmslow Rugby Club" is centre threequarter Chris Lee, a 22-year-old university student studying economics at Manchester Metropolitan University ahead of a career in corporate finance.

But you can’t see much of his face on the cover. The part time waiter at the Alderley Edge Bar and Grill is more evident as Mr February and March, 2008.

Matt Jay, 26, is a chartered accountant by day and a flying winger for Wilmslow at the weekend. He stripped down to next to nothing and draped the club flag over himself to become Mr May.

Student John "JC" Casey, 23, who studies aerospace engineering, stripped down to next to nothing to be Mr November and Graham "Brucey" Bruce, a 23-year-old student studying for a PhD in high voltage research, was caught off guard in the showers for another shot. The calendar, which goes on sale soon, costs £7.99 and be available from the rugby club and The Flower Shop.

It can be viewed at the club website www.wilmslowrugby.com and will also be available online at eBay and via www.facebook.com, where you just have to type in "The Boys of Wilmslow Rugby Club".

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