Why did 66 locals get their kit off and lie down on a rock on a freezing Saturday morning in Roleystone?
To fight cancer, of course!
While this may sound like some new-fangled, new age remedy pitched at those with too many dollars and not enough sense, it was, in fact, a photoshoot for a soon-to-hit-the-shops nude calendar, featuring starkers locals from across Serpentine Jarrahdale, Armadale and Gosnells, who undressed to raise awareness for the Cancer Council.
The stunning scene of locals in a state of nature was captured by local photographer Steve Parry, and comes at the tail-end of an exhaustive quest to make the calendar a reality.
The brainchild of Honey’s Bakery owner Brent Honey, the idea for a calendar began as a joke but quickly took off, as locals lined up to get involved.
“My mum passed away from cancer five years ago and we do a Daffodil Day at the bakery every year and donate the proceeds,” Mr Honey said.
“We write a little joke on the bakery window every day and someone said we should put them all into a calendar.
“I joked and said the only calendar I would do would be a nudie calendar – it got legs from there.”
Harnessing the powers of The Roleystone Courier’s Linda Moore and Relive Imaging’s Steve Parry, it wasn’t long before the calendar began to take shape, with locals eager to bare all for the cause, including Mr Honey – AKA Mr January – himself.
“I kind of left it up to Steve – I didn’t want it to be about the bakery, I wanted to make it about the Cancer Council,” Mr Honey said.
“I do these loaves in the shape of a willy – we call it a knob loaf – so it was me with my bum out and some of those.
“We could have filled the calendar a hundred times with all the people putting their hands up – everyone who had a photo done said it was so much fun.
“There isn’t a fundraising goal, I look at it like anything is better than nothing. Everyone has been touched by cancer, cancer just sucks, it makes me so angry.
“If we can keep someone else’s mum around for a little bit longer, that would be amazing.”
The final shoot, in anticipation of a late-September launch date, saw a brave group of locals disrobe in below zero conditions as the sun rose over Boulder Rocks in Karragullen on Saturday morning.
“Folks came from far and wide to join the throng on the rock,” Ms Moore said.
“There were people of all ages, including an 80-year-old, but they all had one thing in common – a desire to make cancer history.
“Thanks to the many volunteers who helped with the organisation and of course grateful thanks to all who stripped off on the rock.”
The Roleystone Laid Bare calendar will be available from late September 2023 from major sponsor Roleystone Karragullen Community Bendigo Bank.
