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| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 4) |
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Peter A Rushforth
Sep 15, 04 - 12:20 PM |
A Legend in Our Time
Every country, town and village has its legends which have been passed down through the years from father to son. In the days when writing skills were rare they had to rely on purely word of mouth and memory. So it is not surprising that they changed over the years. Nowadays through the likes of computers they are more likely to be factually recorded. Yorkshire, of course, is not short of legends which have endured for many generations. But legends are still being created and one which I think will be long-lasting is the story of the Calendar Girls of Rylstone. From the simple idea of producing a calendar with ladies -- somewhat older than the usual pin-ups -- discreetly posing in the nude sprang not only a wonderful story but a vast collection of money for leukaemia research. And it also spawned a multitude of 'copy-cat' calendars by a variety of organisations throughout the country. The Rylstone calendar was produced by the ladies of the village's Women's Institute following the sad and premature death of John Baker. He was only 54, quite a young age these days. His wife Angela was one of the members of the WI. They came up with the quite bold idea of the calendar as a change from the usual views of churches and Dales beauty spots and hoped to sell about 1000 copies with the money going to provide better seating for visiting relatives at the hospital where John had been a patient. As is now well known, many thousands of calendars have been sold and a wonderful film (Calendar Girls) has been made of the story. Tricia Stewart, one of the participating ladies, has written a book (Calendar Girl) giving us further insight into the events leading up to the production of the original calendar and of the experiences of the 'girls' with the resultant publicity appearances here and in America. From their simple brave idea over £1,000,000 has been raised to fund research into this unpleasant illness. I feel privileged to have known John Baker when he lived with his parents at 57 Briardale Road, Bradford. The house was almost directly opposite our first married home. John would have been about 14 years of age when we first got to know him. He used to deliver our copy of the local evening newspaper, the Telegraph & Argus. We saw him grow up, go to University, marry Angela and in due course visit his parents with his children. He was a quiet, smart lad and I am sure his parents must have been very proud of him. He went on to become Assistant National Parks Warden in the Dales. It is, I believe, a modern legend which will go down in the annals of Yorkshire history along with those other fine stories of yesteryear. |
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Peter A Rushforth
Apr 6th, 2005 - 5:00 PM |
Re: A Legend in Our Time
As a follow up, Angela Baker whose husband John's sad death led to the Rylstone W.I. posing in the nude for the now world-famous calendar which resulted in over £1,000,000 being raised for Leukaemia Research and to many copy-cat calendars, has announced that she is to re-marry in November. Her new husband-to-be is the Rev. Charles Knowles who was a close friend of John's when they were both at Sheffield University. All Yorksview visitors will, I am sure, wish the couple every happiness for the future. |
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Peter A Rushforth
Nov 22nd, 2005 - 11:05 PM |
Re: A Legend in Our Time
As mentioned above Angela (Miss February in the famous calendar) married the Rev. Charles Knowles on Saturday 12th November. They were married in the chapel in the village of Linton which is just up the road from Rylstone in North Yorkshire. Charles and John Baker had been friends since meeting at Sheffield University. Angela's children Rachel 37 and Matthew 34 were amongst those attending the ceremony. I am sure that everyone, especially Yorkshire folk, will join Yorksview in wishing Angela and Charles every happiness in their future together. |
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Peter A Rushforth
Apr 17th, 2007 - 7:24 PM |
Re: A Legend in Our Time
The Calendar Girls are still doing their bit to raise money for Leukaemia Research. Whitakers Chocolates of Skipton have produced boxes of Neapolitan squares which carry the photographs of the women. Each chocolate is wrapped with an image of each of the women and twenty pence from every box sold will go to Leukaemia Research. |
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