SOUTHEND: Local business figures bare all for charity

Twenty-four leading Southend business women and men have brazenly revealed their naked ambition – to raise money for a leading local breast cancer charity.

They shed their inhibitions – and their clothes – to pose naked for a 2011 calendar called Risqué Business, with all the profits going to Southend Hospital Charitable Foundation’s Bosom Pals Appeal.

The calendar is the brainchild of photographer Jo Curtis, who took all the saucy snaps – she told longpier.com:

“Bosom Pals is a fantastic Southend charity and we really wanted to do something fun that would raise money for them, and promote some great local businesses at the same time. We had lots of volunteers wanting to take part and it’s been huge fun doing the photo-shoots – although I’m very grateful that I can get back to taking photos of people with their clothes on now!”

Risqué Business has been designed by Emily Hewett, who posed for it herself – recreating Demi Moore’s famous 1991 Vanity Fair cover – at eight months pregnant.

She says:

“The only thing I was worried about was getting the whole thing designed before going into labour!”

Senior Fundraising Manager at Bosom Pals, Barbara Warner added:

“We would like to say a big thankyou to everyone who was brave enough to bare all for our vitally important cause.”

Risqué Business can be purchased for £7 at locations around Southend, contact jo@jocurtisphotographer.co.uk for further details.

Unlike many other Calendar Girls-inspired projects, Risqué Business has something to make everyone smile, as it is features go-getting guys on one side and tycoon totty on the other.

The participants saucily showed their ass-ets in locations around Southend and in poses that cheekily reflect their particular business interests.

Amongst the many taking part are Adventure Island Managing Director Marc Miller, Maxim’s Casino General Manager Jimmy Howard and Marketing Manager John Harland, Leigh & Thorpe Bay Oracle Publisher Emma Wynne-Morgan, Grateful Heads owner Craig Smith, Echo Chief Features Writer Tom King, estate agent Katalina Fuller and the Southend Airport firemen.