The HAODS Hotties, 2011

Early in 2010, one of Brian's friends, Roz Hall, dreamed up the "crazy" idea of producing a special calendar in support of some locally active charities, using the talents and energy of the members of the Horsham Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society (HAODS).

A curry night followed, during which Brian and his wife, Barbara, together with two more friends, Jackie & Tim Shepherd, plotted, planned and pontificated, and the idea was hatched to create, "An artful calendar, lovingly produced by the Girls of HAODS".

Meetings, Meetings

After many meetings over several months, Brian prepared a full set of pieces of artwork, and followed up with a "dry-run" photo shoot, choreographed by Jackie, before spending a week or so putting together a proof-of-concept version of the calendar.

Because Brian knew all the girls rather well, being a regular musical director for HAODS, it was decided to engage another, preferably female, photographer for the actual shoot. In the event, a local photographer, Darrel Turner, was engaged, and the "live" shoot was arranged for Sunday, 19th September, 2010, to take place at "HAODS House", the operatic society's rehearsal suite within the Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre.

Brian duly received a CD full of the "raw" images of the girls, nearly all of which had been photographed against a bright, back-lit screen, and proceeded with the painstaking task of isolating the girls from the background in Photoshop, so that he could "drop" them onto the various make-believe scenes that he'd been preparing separately, together with all the other artwork.

On Sale in the Foyer

Finally, everything was finished and ready to go, and Brian took it to the printers; two weeks later, he was back there, collecting a number of large, heavy boxes: Roz' original dream had come true! The HAODS Hotties 2011 calendar was put on sale in the foyer of the Capitol Theatre, during the HAODS production of "Kiss Me Kate", and also distributed widely by members of the society. All proceeds of sale were to be divided equally between the two chosen charities, Macmillan Cancer Support & St Catherine's Hospice.

A Great Success

With so much hard work behind the scenes, and thanks to a lot of generous support, we were delighted to find out that we'd made over £1,800 to share between our charities, and a special event was arranged at HAODS House, in which to celebrate and hand over the cheques. All in all, everyone concerned felt the entire project had been a great success!

And finally, our inspiration ...

Our loved ones and close friends that have fought and lost the battle against cancer, and those who are continuing to remain strong through remission. The other patients, doctors, nurses and carers that continue the fight every day and the wonderful charities that support them.