WHEN WI member Tricia Stewart first suggested the idea of an alternative calendar, she never thought that she would one day be telling her moving story to a room full of Kent business women.

The latest Business Link Women in Business lunch, held at Lympne Castle, Hythe, saw Tricia team up with professional networker Sarah Steele, a founder of Atlantic Coaching, to deliver an inspiring talk.

Sarah began with an interactive session highlighting the three keys to networking: attitude; targeting; and rapport.

She said: "Eighty per cent of the population will not buy from someone until they have met them five times. When you begin networking, simply look to make the next contact."

Tricia then spoke about her amazing journey from jam and Jerusalem to WI calendar girl. She joined the Rylstone & District Women’s Institute in 1985 and became great friends with Angela Baker.

They had often joked about creating a calendar featuring the traditional WI crafts, but with the women in the nude.

But when Angela’s husband was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and passed away in 1998, there was a sudden need to raise funds for research into blood-related cancers and the joke became reality.

The actual shoot took place under cover of darkness, with the help of a few bottles of red wine, on a Sunday evening with Miss July’s husband as the photographer.

Tricia said: "If we had known we were going to sell so many copies we would have had some beauty treatments, and we certainly would have breathed in!

"When we saw the photos for the first time we were amazed that we actually looked quite good."

A local pub was invaluable to the calendar girls throughout their venture, from providing sponsorship for the first print run of 3,000 calendars to a venue for the press launch.

The press releases were issued with Tricia's contact details on and for the next few days she was permanently on the phone and the calendar was featured in national newspapers for the next three weeks.

Calendars were sent to anyone who might help their cause including Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson, Graham Norton and Julie Walters.

In 2000, a calendar was printed in America and the women were instant celebrities, raising yet more money for Leukaemia Research.

They were approached by a producer who wanted to tell their story but the decision was left to Angela. After months of building up a trusting relationship, she agreed that the now highly successful film Calendar Girls could be made with Helen Mirren and Julie Walters playing Tricia and Angela.

To date, more than 850,000 calendars have been sold raising £1.3million. A new calendar has been produced for 2007 and there is even talk of a musical.

Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes CBE will be the guest speaker at the next Business Link Women in Business lunch to be held on December 5 at the Marriott Tudor Park Hotel & Country Club, Maidstone.

Ms Rhodes will be accompanied by entrepreneur Amanda Hamilton, who set up Tea UK as an alternative to the many existing coffee shops.

The lunch will start with networking at 11am. Tickets cost £32.50 plus VAT. For further information and bookings, email events@businesslinkkent.com, or call 01732 878555.