by Angela Cole

An insight into the anxious wait faced by families and partners of soldiers fighting in Afghanistan has prompted one soldier’s girlfriend and her friends to take a daring step into fundraising.
Tilly Lambert, 20, whose boyfriend, Sapper Adam Lee from 36 Engineer Regiment, is currently serving in Afghanistan, has organised a calendar in aid of Help for Heroes. The pictures for the calendar were shot at Invicta Barracks in Maidstone.
Although they have not gone quite as far as the infamous Calendar Girls, the group, including fellow organiser Xenia Marshall, are all girlfriends and ex-girlfriends of soldiers in the regiment, and have dared to bare almost all for the sake of our boys, with the help of strategically placed banners and locker doors.
Miss Lambert, a former Cranbrook School pupil, said: “Since Adam’s been in Afghanistan, I’ve realised how hard it actually is for families and friends at home as well as the boys themselves."

The death of Sapper Mark Antony Smith of 36 Engineer Regiment recently and the news that two colleagues had also been seriously injured in recent weeks had made her acutely aware of the situation, she said, adding: “We don’t hear so much about the ones who are injured out there. They are the ones that have the biggest struggle ahead of them. They are ridiculously brave.”
She added: “I am very grateful for all the money raised and work done by Help for Heroes.
“The calendar was all done with the hope that none of them would have to benefit, but things change.”
The calendar is expected to go on sale at The Mall Chequers, Maidstone, in October.