Breast cancer survivors go nude in Calendar Girls
BBCThree women who have all undergone breast cancer treatment are baring all and their scars in a theatre production of Calendar Girls.
Calendar Girls is based on the true story of Women's Institute (WI) members posing nude for a calendar to raise money for the cancer ward at their local hospital.
The women from Cornwall, who are part of Teylu Theatre Company, are raising money for the Plymouth Radiotherapy Development Fund at Derriford Hospital with their performances in Devon and Cornwall.
Kath Vineer, Bernice Strickland and Laura Pearson said the show fitted "our demographic" and also had an "empowerment and uplifting element".
The three also added they wanted to raise awareness of the need for women to check their breasts.
Teylu Theatre CompanyTeylu, a not-for-profit community group, has been given free rehearsal space at a company called Boost in Liskeard, Cornwall, which makes breast forms for people who have undergone surgery.
Bernice Strickland has had a mammoplasty - a breast reduction to remove the cancer - and she wears one of Boost's breast forms.
"It has been a very powerful experience. I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and after surgery I was supported by lots of people within our theatre company and that support means absolutely everything," she said.
"So many people who have a cancer journey have to have radiotherapy and so it seemed a natural fit to raise money for the Plymouth Radiotherapy Development Fund."
Kath Vineer said: "The nipples on my breast are concealed by a tiny bit of knitting and a ball of wool.
"I would imagine my scars could be seen from the original mastectomy and the reconstruction, but those scars don't bother me because they represent survival."
Laura Pearson, who has undergone a double mastectomy said: "Calendar Girls was, for me, the absolutely obvious choice.
"It fits our demographic - we're predominately female, predominately women of a certain age.
"But also it has that whole empowerment and uplifting element and women working together to see us through difficult times."
The show is due to be performed at the Sterts Theatre on Bodmin Moor and Launceston Town Hall in Cornwall, and at the Devonport Playhouse and Tavistock Town Hall in Devon.