17 May 2004

Boys bare their chests for breast cancer

Photo opportunity 11.45am, Monday 17 May, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. Bare chested calendar boys and surgeon.

Calendar boys who have emulated Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and posed nude for a charity calendar will visit the University of Dundee next week to present the proceeds from their calendars to the University's cancer research team.

Mr February, Dai Rees, a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1969 was asked by his wife Maggie Smith to pose for the calendar and "needed no persuasion". Dai and Maggie will present cancer surgeon and researcher Professor Alastair Thompson at the University of Dundee's Medical School with a cheque for £30,000 for breast cancer research.

Maggie, her friend Chris Lyall and a group of women in the Borders village of West Linton had been touched, in much the same way as the Calendar Girls, by friends' experiences with breast cancer and wanted to raise money for breast cancer research. Instead of volunteering themselves however, they turned to their others halves.

The calendar boys from West Linton, including one of the teachers at Peebles High School, are all pictured in countryside pose; one chopping down trees, four standing at the bar in their local pub, and playing cricket and golf.

Professor Alastair Thompson and his team will be using the generous donation on a project to identify the best time in a woman's menstrual cycle to give chemotherapy. Maggie explained: "We are particularly keen on this project as it is aimed at improving treatment for younger women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. A young woman in our village who had young children died of breast cancer. We feel that this is one of the most tragic aspects of this disease and we are keen that our money is spent on improving survival chances for young women."

Alastair said: "We have an excellent team here at the University of Dundee who are pushing the boundaries to find increasingly better and more effective treatments for breast cancer. We are extremely grateful to the ladies and gentlemen of West Linton for their generous donation."

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk