BUS drivers in Greater Manchester have been stripping off to produce not one but two cheeky calendars for 2024!
The naked calendars featuring Stagecoach Manchester staff will raise money to support breast cancer and prostate cancer charities. Staff hope they’ll also act as a year-long reminder for people to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer and to get checked out if they notice something that’s not normal for them.
Stagecoach Manchester bus drivers and staff who have posed for a semi naked 2024 calendar to help raise funds and awareness about cancer.
Bus driver David Carlyon, 51, from Eccles, said: “We wanted to raise awareness of prostate cancer as some members of the group have been affected personally by this disease. So, we put our thinking caps on and decided to do a very tasteful calendar of all us bus drivers. We are not models. We are real men with not the best of bodies, but this didn’t matter!
“Quite a few of us have been touched by cancer. I lost my dad to prostate cancer when I was 15 and I watched him go through his treatment. It has had a lasting impact on me. The calendar is our way of doing something to help raise funds and have a bit of fun too.”
A group of staff from Stockport and Hyde bus depots posed for photos which they took on their phones at home. Their calendar will raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. Once word of the men’s calendar was out, some of the women asked about doing one too.
Simon Stopford, Lead Mental Health First Aider for Stagecoach Manchester, said: “I put a list out for male volunteers and was very surprised by the amount of interest! Then I got approached by the ladies asking if they could get involved, so we now have two charity calendars!”
The women’s calendar is raising money for breast cancer charity Coppa Feel.
One lady to feature is AJ Lamen, 36, from Trafford, who lost her mum Jackie Cadwalader to breast cancer.
AJ said: “My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and died in 2019. She was an amazing woman – so I jumped at the chance to help raise awareness about cancer and checking yourself.
“My mum would have loved the calendar. She’d have wanted to be in it too! She was always up for a laugh and was still playing tricks on me right up until the end.”
AJ and her colleagues held a photoshoot at Manchester Transport Museum with just a few props to preserve their modesty.
Wendy Ogden, 56, from Higher Openshaw, said taking part in the calendar was actually less daunting than some of her previous fundraising efforts which include completing a half marathon and taking part in a Ladies Full Monty show. She said: “I just thought why not!? Like others, I also lost my mum to cancer so I’m passionate about raising awareness.”
Neville Firth, 56, from near Heaton Chapel, said: “Taking part in the calendar was very personal to me as my brother Martin had prostate cancer and died two years ago. I’m now the same age as he was when he died. Martin told me and my older brother Rick to get ourselves checked which we did.”
“Taking part in the calendar helped me regain my confidence after breast cancer surgery”
Bus driver Joyce Singh, from Stalybridge, says taking part in the calendar helped her regain her confidence after her own breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2023.
Mum-of-two Joyce, 51, found a lump under her left arm after taking a shower in February. She went to her GP the next day and was referred to Tameside Hospital.
Joyce had a mammogram (an X-ray to check breasts for signs of cancer) and a biopsy (which involves taking a small sample of breast tissue so it can be examined under a microscope).
These checks showed she had breast cancer.
Joyce had an operation to remove the lump in her breast in April 2023 around the time of her 50th birthday. This was followed by chemotherapy and then 19 sessions of radiotherapy. She finished treatment in October 2023.
Joyce said: “I was devastated when I heard I had cancer. You never think it will happen to you! The treatment was exhausting and left me very weak. I felt really down when I started to lose my hair. Then I got a wig and started to feel a bit more like me again. When I heard about the calendar, I thought it would be good to raise awareness and get people talking about cancer. It gave me a bit of confidence after everything I’d been through to say ‘look at me now!’ and I didn’t wear my wig for the photos!
“If anyone has symptoms you need to act on it quickly and book and appointment to see your GP. It could save your life.”
