Calendar guys back hall

Dec 2 2008 by Graeme Whitfield, The Journal

THE "calendar girls" concept has been conjured up in support of the bid to buy Seaton Delaval Hall – only this time, the subjects are male and they keep their kit on.

Yesterday the National Trust launched a Men at Work calendar, featuring 13 of the trust’s staff, who appear on the pages to raise funds to save Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland.

The calendar – a limited edition of 5,000 copies – represents faces of all ages from across the trust.

Subjects include a gardener, chef, woodsman, cider maker, master mason and farmer.

From the North East, Daniel Wilson and Robert Woods, from Lindisfarne Castle, and Jason Ritchie, from the Regional Building Team, have all been snapped.

Seaton Delaval Hall has been put up for sale by its owner Lord Hastings after his parents died. The National Trust has pledged £6.9m to save the historic building, but needs to raise more money from the public to secure public access to the hall. With just weeks to go, £1m has been raised, but at least a further £2m is still needed from the public appeal.

The calendar has been organised by Sue Herdman, editor of the National Trust Magazine, and Tessa Johnstone, of the trust’s director general’s office.

Sue said: “It would be a travesty if Seaton Delaval Hall, Sir John Vanbrugh’s great Baroque masterpiece, was sold privately and not saved for the nation.

“Everyone involved in the calendar project, including the designer, photographer and printer, has either offered their services for free – or at a substantial discount – for this terrific cause.

“We have shamelessly plagiarized the Women’s Institute’s ‘Calendar Girls’ idea, although the men in our calendar remain tantalisingly clothed.”

The calendar costs £7.95 and will be on sale from Thursday in 40 of the National Trust’s shops and online via www.shop.nationaltrust.org.uk

North East company Beckleberry’s donated puddings to fuel walkers on a ramble around the grounds of Gibside near, Rowlands Gill, to raise funds for the appeal.