3:50pm Friday 20th November 2009
By Marc Meneaud
Hairy bikers have stripped off their leathers for a saucy calendar in a bid to raise hundreds of pounds for injured soldiers.
Brave members of the Shipley Harley Club took time out from this year’s 30th annual rally in Baildon earlier this year to pose naked for the club’s 2010 calendar.
With only their Harley Davidson bikes and various props to cover their modesty, 11 self-styled “middle-aged, fat men”, huddled in a cold marquee at Baildon Rugby Club in Jenny Lane for a series of themed photographs taken by Yorkshire-based photographer Jacqui Bellamy.
The shots, including a group photo for December, have now been made into a calendar which has gone on sale to raise money for the Help for Heroes injured soldiers’ charity.
Rally co-organiser and “Mr February”, Pete Griffiths, 54, said: “The calendar features 11 middle-aged, fat men and each month has a theme. We are on our bikes and the main bits are covered up – it is all done very tastefully.”
More than 500 Harley Davidson enthusiasts from across Britain and Europe visited this year’s rally, which is the longest-running of its type.
This year it included a charity toy collection for sick children at Bradford Royal Infirmary and other charity collections for Help for Heroes, which provides financial support for soldiers who have been wounded in current conflicts.
All proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to the military charity.
Mr Griffiths said: “This year we have done quite a lot for Help for Heroes and the calendar is just to raise a bit of money for the troops.”
He added: “It was great doing it – some of the best fun I’ve had for years. There were a few of our wives and partners there as well and they just had a scream.
“We did the photography on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, so bearing in mind we had been there all weekend, without hardly any sleep, I think we looked quite good!”
Copies of the calendar cost £12 and are available from the club’s website shipley-harley-rally.co.uk or by calling Pete Griffiths on (01274) 496270.
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