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The fabulous calendar girls of Whimple. When it came time for Cathy Bartlett-Horwood to drop her dressing gown to the floor and stand naked in her village hall in front of her friends, she was nervous. The 60-year-old has had a complicated relationship with her weight for many years.
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She was so nervous, in fact, that she was physically sick beforehand. Nevertheless, she persisted. Bartlett-Horwood became part of a group of brave women who’ve come to be known as the Wonders of Whimple." The "wonders" are thus-named because they posed naked in the village’s most scenic spots for a calendar celebrating the beauty of the village's female population. This calendar is more than a photographic paean to the female form. It’s a fundraiser for this village's year-long mission to change the way its residents feel about their bodies. The village’s name is one you might not have come across before, for the village itself is deep in the heart of rural Devon—a county in the south west corner of England. Readers imagining a scene not unlike the idyllic filming location of the 2003 film Calendar Girls wouldn't be entirely off the mark. Whimple is comprised of winding lanes dotted with thatch-roofed whitewashed cottages with the occasional farm thrown in for good measure. But, beyond the chocolate box prettiness of the village, its 1,173 inhabitants have been working hard to acknowledge and embrace the beauty of their own bodies. It's by no means been an overnight flick-of-a-switch process for many of the people involved. Gill Wilson— an eating disorders therapist—is the woman behind the movement. It all started in January 2016, when Gill organised screenings of a documentary in the village called Embrace (opens in a new tab) . The film—created by Australian activist Taryn Brumfitt after a successful Kickstarter campaign—explores the issue of "body loathing" and aims to inspire people to change the way they think and feel about their bodies. "After having my three children, I ended up hating my body," says Brumfitt in the documentary. "So I trained hard, and I'm standing there in my perfect body and I’m not happy." Brumfitt says she didn't want her daughter to grow up feeling the same way so she traveled the world to find out why so many people hate their bodies. Wilson’s decision to screen the documentary in the area is one backed up by research. According to Dove’s Global Beauty and Confidence Report, which surveyed 10,500 women from around the world, British women have one of the lowest self-esteem scores, and just 20 percent said they liked the way they looked. Alarmingly, a 2016 report by the Children’s Society found that girls are “less happy than they used to be†about their physical appearance. The research found that more than one-third of UK girls are unhappy with the way they look, a 30 percent rise over five years. Wilson says that after she put on two screenings in the village, people came forward with ideas to further the notion of embracing one’s body image. One of which was a calendar. “I was getting loads of emails, and the biggest messages was that the film needs to be shown in schools, but you need a licence for it to be shown in schools,†says Wilson. But, the idea of the calendar presented a solution to the licence issue—the proceeds raised by the Wonders of Whimple could pay for licences. Word of the calendar spread through the village, and slowly but surely people came forward and signed up to take part in it. “Once people knew their friends were doing it, they’d say 'oh, if you're doing it, I'll do it,'†says Wilson. This was exactly how Bartlett-Horwood came to be involved in the calendar. “I knew some of my friends were taking part, and I thought, hey why should I just tell them how proud I am of them when I can actually do it too!†Her photo now sits pride of place on the calendar’s February page, and she’s also on the front cover. “I have spent years battling with my weight and worrying how I look in front of my family and friens,†she says.
Older women looking for teens
The fabulous calendar girls of Whimple. When it came time for Cathy Bartlett-Horwood to drop her dressing gown to the floor and stand naked in her village hall in front of her friends, she was nervous. The 60-year-old has had a complicated relationship with her weight for many years.
ENTER TO THE SITE
She was so nervous, in fact, that she was physically sick beforehand. Nevertheless, she persisted. Bartlett-Horwood became part of a group of brave women who’ve come to be known as the Wonders of Whimple." The "wonders" are thus-named because they posed naked in the village’s most scenic spots for a calendar celebrating the beauty of the village's female population. This calendar is more than a photographic paean to the female form. It’s a fundraiser for this village's year-long mission to change the way its residents feel about their bodies. The village’s name is one you might not have come across before, for the village itself is deep in the heart of rural Devon—a county in the south west corner of England. Readers imagining a scene not unlike the idyllic filming location of the 2003 film Calendar Girls wouldn't be entirely off the mark. Whimple is comprised of winding lanes dotted with thatch-roofed whitewashed cottages with the occasional farm thrown in for good measure. But, beyond the chocolate box prettiness of the village, its 1,173 inhabitants have been working hard to acknowledge and embrace the beauty of their own bodies. It's by no means been an overnight flick-of-a-switch process for many of the people involved. Gill Wilson— an eating disorders therapist—is the woman behind the movement. It all started in January 2016, when Gill organised screenings of a documentary in the village called Embrace (opens in a new tab) . The film—created by Australian activist Taryn Brumfitt after a successful Kickstarter campaign—explores the issue of "body loathing" and aims to inspire people to change the way they think and feel about their bodies. "After having my three children, I ended up hating my body," says Brumfitt in the documentary. "So I trained hard, and I'm standing there in my perfect body and I’m not happy." Brumfitt says she didn't want her daughter to grow up feeling the same way so she traveled the world to find out why so many people hate their bodies. Wilson’s decision to screen the documentary in the area is one backed up by research. According to Dove’s Global Beauty and Confidence Report, which surveyed 10,500 women from around the world, British women have one of the lowest self-esteem scores, and just 20 percent said they liked the way they looked. Alarmingly, a 2016 report by the Children’s Society found that girls are “less happy than they used to be†about their physical appearance. The research found that more than one-third of UK girls are unhappy with the way they look, a 30 percent rise over five years. Wilson says that after she put on two screenings in the village, people came forward with ideas to further the notion of embracing one’s body image. One of which was a calendar. “I was getting loads of emails, and the biggest messages was that the film needs to be shown in schools, but you need a licence for it to be shown in schools,†says Wilson. But, the idea of the calendar presented a solution to the licence issue—the proceeds raised by the Wonders of Whimple could pay for licences. Word of the calendar spread through the village, and slowly but surely people came forward and signed up to take part in it. “Once people knew their friends were doing it, they’d say 'oh, if you're doing it, I'll do it,'†says Wilson. This was exactly how Bartlett-Horwood came to be involved in the calendar. “I knew some of my friends were taking part, and I thought, hey why should I just tell them how proud I am of them when I can actually do it too!†Her photo now sits pride of place on the calendar’s February page, and she’s also on the front cover. “I have spent years battling with my weight and worrying how I look in front of my family and friens,†she says.
Older women looking for teens