A CHEEKY calendar featuring a group of local mums has raised a staggering £6,000 towards a friend’s vital cancer treatment.

The Darling Buds of Burley calendar has seen eleven ladies from Burley-in-Wharfedale strip off and pose for a series of fun photos around the village.

The group have dared to bare all in a bid to help 53-year-old Michael Hardisty, who was given less than a year to live when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last November.

So far they have sold an estimated 700 calendars in just a few weeks which, after printing costs, takes their fundraising total to an impressive £6,000.

But they’re appealing for the public to dig deep in the run-up to Christmas and help them reach their ultimate goal of £20,000.

Following his devastating diagnosis, Michael, known to friends as Bud, was told the NHS could only fund six months of his treatment.

But his determined family found a centre in Istanbul which offers an experimental treatment that could extend the time he has with his wife Justine and two sons Joshua, 21 and William, 14.

Bud’s sister Jane, 36, said: “We’re so immeasurably grateful to everyone involved in putting the calendar together and to all those people who have put their hand in their pocket to help by buying a copy so far.

“It’s given the family a huge boost at a really tough time to know that people have heard about Bud’s story and want to show their support- especially over the festive season.”

The Calendar is currently being stocked at shops across Burley-in-Wharfedale, Menston, Yeadon, Otley and Harrogate and is priced at £10.

For a full list of stockists, please visit the Darling Buds of Burley Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/budscalendar/

The ladies featured in the calendar are: Heather Lockwood, Business Development Manager; Tina Cook, Service Support Account Manager; Jo Lepelley, Marketing Officer; Sam Atkinson, Fitness Instructor; Elyse Shankland, Fitness Instructor; Melanie Lambert, Hospitality Executive; Amanda Lambert, Receptionist/Activities Co-ordinator; Hayley Shaw, Corporate Business Travel Team Leader; Vicky Golding, owner of The Carriage bed shop, Burley who have sponsored the calendar; Jane Hardisty, Cleaning business owner and daughter Abi Hardisty; Emma Warriss, Nursery Practitioner.

Sponsors include: Nuffield Health and Fitness; The Carriage bed shop & Harrison Spinks Somnus; Aire valley Architectural Aluminium Ltd; Burley Dental Suite; One Medical Group; Tetleys Carlsberg & The Rifle Club, Burley; The Malt Shovel, Menston; Meridian Wealth Management; Stompa beds; Damian Kirkbride Plumbing and Heating; RJB Construction; DJ Rayners Window Cleaning and Paul Hammond Associates.