TT:120930 CANNAS: Last Thursday I missed posting these from 2012. These are the cannas I was digging. That is Diana's camouflage top so you can't notice her. A dark areola and slightly puffy nipple of a 18-year old girl. Hair around the areola She is 31 years old, hasn't been pregnant. Acne on the breast. She is 23 years old. A 21-year old; had breast reduction 7 months ago so nipple shows scars. A fairly flat nipple. A 30-year old woman's nipple Large areola. Inverted nipple.

'We see images of breasts everywhere,' the 41-year-old photographer explained, 'but they're unreal. They create an unflattering comparison but also an unobtainable ideal. I wanted to rehumanize women through honest photography.' Her project, which has surpassed its initial fundraising goal, is a thing of beauty and familiarity in my eyes. MAINLY, This is Religious Ceremony in Most Of the Europian cold countries. Thus, This is water we call as Cold Water Therapy: Throughout human history, both. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.

The fabulous calendar girls of Whimple

The fabulous calendar girls of Whimple

When it came time for Cathy Bartlett-Horwood to drop her dressing gown to the floor and stand naked in her village hall in front of her friends, she was nervous. The 60-year-old has had a complicated relationship with her weight for many years. She was so nervous, in fact, that she was physically sick beforehand.

Nevertheless, she persisted. Bartlett-Horwood became part of a group of brave women who’ve come to be known as the 'Wonders of Whimple.' The 'wonders' are thus-named because they posed naked in the village’s most scenic spots for a calendar celebrating the beauty of the village's female population.

This calendar is more than a photographic paean to the female form. It’s a fundraiser for this village's year-long mission to change the way its residents feel about their bodies.

Sue Draycott

The village’s name is one you might not have come across before, for the village itself is deep in the heart of rural Devon—a county in the south west corner of England. Readers imagining a scene not unlike the idyllic filming location of the 2003 film Calendar Girls wouldn't be entirely off the mark.

Whimple is comprised of winding lanes dotted with thatch-roofed whitewashed cottages with the occasional farm thrown in for good measure.

But, beyond the chocolate box prettiness of the village, its 1,173 inhabitants have been working hard to acknowledge and embrace the beauty of their own bodies. It's by no means been an overnight flick-of-a-switch process for many of the people involved.

Sue Draycott

Gill Wilson— an eating disorders therapist—is the woman behind the movement. It all started in January 2016, when Gill organised screenings of a documentary in the village called Embrace.

The film—created by Australian activist Taryn Brumfitt after a successful Kickstarter campaign—explores the issue of 'body loathing' and aims to inspire people to change the way they think and feel about their bodies.

'After having my three children, I ended up hating my body,' says Brumfitt in the documentary. 'So I trained hard, and I'm standing there in my perfect body and I’m not happy.' Brumfitt says she didn't want her daughter to grow up feeling the same way so she traveled the world to find out why so many people hate their bodies.

Wilson’s decision to screen the documentary in the area is one backed up by research. According to Dove’s Global Beauty and Confidence Report, which surveyed 10,500 women from around the world, British women have one of the lowest self-esteem scores, and just 20 percent said they liked the way they looked.

Alarmingly, a 2016 report by the Children’s Society found that girls are “less happy than they used to be” about their physical appearance. The research found that more than one-third of UK girls are unhappy with the way they look, a 30 percent rise over five years.

Wilson says that after she put on two screenings in the village, people came forward with ideas to further the notion of embracing one’s body image. One of which was a calendar.

“I was getting loads of emails, and the biggest messages was that the film needs to be shown in schools, but you need a licence for it to be shown in schools,” says Wilson. But, the idea of the calendar presented a solution to the licence issue—the proceeds raised by the Wonders of Whimple could pay for licences.

Sue Draycott

Word of the calendar spread through the village, and slowly but surely people came forward and signed up to take part in it. “Once people knew their friends were doing it, they’d say 'oh, if you're doing it, I'll do it,'” says Wilson.

This was exactly how Bartlett-Horwood came to be involved in the calendar. “I knew some of my friends were taking part, and I thought, hey why should I just tell them how proud I am of them when I can actually do it too!” Her photo now sits pride of place on the calendar’s February page, and she’s also on the front cover.

“I have spent years battling with my weight and worrying how I look in front of my family and friends,” she says. “But, why when I am healthy and happy I have wonderful people around me who love me for who I am and it is inside that really matters.”

Bartlett-Horwood wants other people to feel the way she feels and “not to be worried about what other people think.”

“Allow your real self to shine and feel comfortable with who you are,” says Bartlett-Horwood. “We are all fabulous.”

Sue Draycott

Her bravery—and that of the women who took part in the calendar—has not gone unnoticed in the village. “People I don’t know have recognised me from the calendar and hugged me,” says Bartlett-Horwood.

Suzanne Rothwell, 72, decided to take part in the calendar for reasons close to her heart. A grandmother of six, Rothwell says she’s seen her grandkids starting to worry about body image from a very young age.

“My 5-year-old granddaughter one day said she couldn't do something because people would see her tummy. How sad is that?” Rothwell says. She feels that children are “constantly bombarded” with images of “perfect people.”

So Rothwell posed nude in an orchard along with other women from the village.

“It was great fun taking part, everyone was being quite modest taking their clothes off and putting on their dressing gowns,” says Rothwell. “Amazingly, when we finished the shoot and went to get changed, most ladies just undressed without worrying about their nakedness.”

Sue Draycott

The women of Whimple posed in nothing but their birthday suits betwixt apple trees in an orchard, beside scones and jam at the local cricket club and, of course, on high stools at the Thirsty Farmer.

“We were keen for the calendar to get a real cross-section, and to get a diversity of body shapes,” Wilson added. “We ended up having a young girl of 18 and a lady of 84 years of age.”

Wilson says that most of the women felt “empowered” after the photo shoot.

“Everybody's journey was different, and people were fairly tentative to start with,” says Wilson. “I can’t speak for other people, but I was in the calendar and I felt really empowered, really liberated.”

She said that some of the experience couldn’t be “put into words” as it was “such an unusual experience.'

'The shoot that I was in was in an orchard and it's not every day you take your clothes off and stand in an orchard,' says Wilson.

Sue Draycott

Sue Draycott, the photographer behind the Wonders of Whimple, says the experience of shooting the calendar was “amazing.”

“The women were all incredibly supportive of each other and I found it was a real bonding experience for all of us,” says Draycott.

Older Women Pixie Haircut

The first screening of the film was what made Draycott decide to get involved in the calendar. “I have always had my own body image issues and struggled with my weight so when I heard that Gill was showing the film Embrace I knew this was something I had to see,” says Draycott.

“It was such an incredibly moving film and really struck a chord with me,” Draycott explains. She says that, during the screening, she realised that social media plays “such a big part in the way we see ourselves.”

'Having a teenage daughter also played a big part in the way I was struck by this film,” says Draycott.

Sue Draycott

Draycott didn’t just stand behind the camera during the shoot, thought. “I joined one of the groups for a shoot and then took a self portrait of myself (naked of course!) for the back page of the calendar,” she says.

“I am so glad that I got involved and honestly feel I am on my way towards a better self acceptance of my body,” she says.

Older Asian Women Pokies

The calendar has raised around £4,000 ($5,414), which will be go towards five licenses and the remainder will be donated to two breast cancer charities. For Rothwell, the calendar also served as a way to remember her father, who died from breast cancer.

Cathy Bartlett-Horwood, second from right, who was so nervous before now proudly sits on the throne.

Sue Draycott

'The calendar has raised enough money to get the film into five of our local secondary schools. So, they'll all be screening it next term,' says Wilson.

Wilson hopes that women will look at the calendar and think 'she looks like me, I can relate to her.'

“I want someone to feel it's relatable and to appreciate that we're all beautiful with our stretch marks and cellulite. We've got amazing, amazing bodies, and it makes me really sad that so many people go through life hating their bodies and feeling they should look a certain way.”

Pin On Older Women Pokies

Wilson says that she feels the calendar is already starting to have an impact in the community.

'It's one of those things, it's not going to be a flick of a switch and 'oh my god I love my body,' she says. 'The way change happens is little by little.”

Flickr Older Women Pokies Images

• UK Lifestyle Correspondent

  Rachel Thompson

• UK Deputy Editor

  Liza Hearon

• Photos

  Sue Draycott