Naked Girls for HEROES

Meet the SWAGs (Service Wives And Girlfriends), whose cheeky naked calendar has raised £26,000 for Help For Heroes

 
Their other halves are busy dealing with military assaults. But for these SWAGs - Service Wives And Girlfriends - it's more about full-frontal assaults.

With only strategically placed guns and tanks to spare their blushes, these charity calendar shots have helped raise £26,000 for injured servicemen and women wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A total of 50 volunteers, all wives and girlfriends of men from the three Armed Services, stripped off to be photographed at bases and training centres in Hampshire. But their modesty was preserved by carefully placed pieces of military equipment.

Glamorous Kelly Monk, 20, is one of the women who features in the racy calendar. Her boyfriend Andrew Mason, 21, who serves in the 2nd Battalion the Princess of Wales's Regiment, came up with the idea for the charity shoot.

Kelly, of Botley, Hampshire, said: 'I got together with Andrew's sister, Sam, to do the shoot and it just snowballed from there.

'We were nervous at first, but then we really started enjoying it and everyone had a laugh. My boyfriend is fine with it.

'He knows that it's for a good cause.'

Lisa Fellows-Patel, 43, who lives near Bath and poses for the April page of the calendar, said she was 'proud' to have shed her clothes in support of the troops.

She said: 'An old schoolfriend is in the Army and was posted to Afghanistan.

'I felt the only way I could truly support him from home was to do charity work for Help For Heroes and as I model for fun a girlfriend suggested I help with the calendar.

'The night before, I was extremely nervous but told myself that if the armed forces are overseas fighting on my behalf I would have the courage to get naked and do my bit.

'The finished calendar is fabulous. It's very cheeky but not offensive and I love it.'

Photographer Roy Goodwin, who helped shoot the calendar, added: 'About 50 girls got involved in total and they were all volunteers.

'They put in a lot of work and dedication to make the calendar happen and we even had to smuggle them into an army base for one shot.'