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Belles get bare for calendar
Erin McPhee
emcphee@nsnews.com
"We older ones are the new sexy," says 80-year-old North Vancouver resident Lin Ardington.
Sexy, active, fun, saucy, loveable, intelligent, proud, confident and all-natural are the words Ardington uses to describe herself and the other 27 North Shore women who are currently caught up in the spirit of being able to call themselves calendar girls.
"In fact, I'd love to get that record, Neil Sedaka's Calendar Girl, I must try and get that," she says.
Ardington is among the members of North Vancouver's Silver Harbour Centre, a recreation centre for local seniors, who volunteered to get "a little bit bare," and pose on the pages of a 2007 fundraising calendar dubbed Silver Belles in support of the centre's programs and services. Ardington has been a centre member for the past 20 years.
The North Shore's own calendar girls are following in the footsteps of other brave souls, including the British women who bared it all for a worthy cause and were depicted in the 2003 film Calendar Girls, which popularized the idea.
Calendar model and North Vancouver resident Bernadette Bryan, 76, suggested the idea to Annwen Loverin, executive director of Silver Harbour Centre, after she received a birthday card from her daughter showing five semi-nude senior women wrapped in red towels, laughing and enjoying a day at the spa.
"Inside, she put 'You go girl,'" says Bryan, a member of the centre for the past 10 years.
Bryan was also familiar with the film, which she fell in love with, and had seen a similar project come out of a seniors centre in Toronto. "I thought let's do a Silver Harbour calendar," she says. "I wanted to show that we have such fun at our seniors centre."
Loverin says she loved the idea and a call for models was sent out with 28 North Shore women, ages 60 to 91, coming forward, including Bryan.
"There's so much youth orientation these days and age-defying creams and things, and I just wanted to show we have a lot of fun and we did with the calendar," says Bryan.
Bryan is featured in a number of shots including one depicting her and three other women getting ready for a day at the beach in a Jaguar XKE.
"I was really apprehensive beforehand, but once that was over, I didn't mind any of the others," says Bryan.
The photographs were shot by Vancouver-based photographer Ivan Hunter who volunteered his time. "Ivan was such a good photographer and he was so fun with us," says Bryan. The volunteers showed as much as they felt comfortable with.
"It just looks like we are having a lot of fun," says Bryan.
Bryan also posed in a Valentine's Day scene and a harvest scene in addition to one depicting her favourite activity.
"Line dancing is my love," says Bryan, who dances weekly at the centre as part of the Golden Spurs, a line dance performance group.
Ardington posed in the beach and harvest scene with Bryan, as well as a tea party scene. Agreeing to pose was an easy decision, she says.
"I'm at that age I've got to have a go at everything that's going," she says. "We don't need anybody's approval anymore, so we just do it."
Ardington says she fully enjoyed the experience and believes her husband, who passed away four years ago, would find her decision quite amusing.
"I imagine now he'll be chuckling, seeing me on a calendar," she says.
Loverin says some of the models didn't quite realize what they were getting into but they were wonderful sports about it.
"We had a little incident where there were three ladies wearing very little more than their underwear or swimsuits out in the middle of a tennis court when the men's lawn bowling session was going on, so they were really brave and as a result they had an absolute blast," she says.
The scenes depicted in the calendar show women doing activities that are illustrative of Silver Harbour Centre's diverse offerings.
"We are incredibly excited about the calendar. It presents seniors as fun, active, vibrant members of the community," says Loverin. "That's what I know seniors to be and I think that's what everyone should know seniors to be."
Ardington says the shoots have helped forge deeper friendships among the models, which is also an aspect of Silver Harbour's mission.
"I like it because it's a very friendly place, people are extremely friendly and because the membership's fairly small, you always know somebody when you go in," says Bryan.
The Silver Belles calendar goes on sale this week for $10 at Silver Harbour Centre, located at 144 East 22nd St. in North Vancouver. The centre is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In addition, copies will be available at Silver Harbour's Christmas Bazaar planned for Saturday, Nov. 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the centre.
published on 11/05/2006
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