A group of brave Kapunda men are baring all for a cause as part of a fundraiser that is raising eyebrows.
Apparently not accustomed to a great deal of nude modelling, thirteen Kapunda Charity Car Cruise supporters were coaxed out of their clothes by a couple of women who were keen to put the “fun” into their fundraising efforts after a challenging year.
Mr Colin Bolt, aka “Mr April”, said it was his wife, Lee and fellow committee member, Heather Soph who had come across a Naked Farmers’ calendar being sold to support those with mental illness and thought it was a great fundraising initiative.
“Then they said we’ll organise it, you blokes can be in the photographs!” Colin said.
“We had a lot of volunteers - we had to knock people back!” added Lee saying how it was “surprisingly easy” to rope their models in, especially after a few beers at the pub.
“To do an all women’s one... well there just weren’t many volunteers, they’re more vain! Guys just don’t care, they just said let’s get it out there!
“It was a lot of fun, we had a lot of laughs.”
Kapunda’s Leonie Boyd took some of the photographs, whilst wives and partners took others to ensure everyone kept their modesty with appropriately placed items ranging from fire hoses, lap tops and tractor tyres, through to snare drums, pizza boxes and gardening tools, depending on each gentlemen’s trade or hobby.
“Then we put them all together,” added Heather of the 13 photographs which includes a “cheeky” cover shot taken in a paddock.
Michael Golding, the group’s “IT man” utilised his computer skills for the calendar’s layout and design and also features as “Mr March”.
He joins Mark Jarvinen, Mike Prior, Collin Morris, Darrian Wiltshire, Marty Dew, Fabio Antonioli, Shane Collins, Josh Melville-Smith, Tim Daly, Mark Hambour and Steve Norman in all their glory.
Any bashfulness models had soon left after they realised it was all in good fun and no one was out to embarrass anyone.
“The photos are really quite discreet, they are tasteful,” said Colin.
The route has already been set for the 2021 Kapunda Charity Car Cruise planned for the March long weekend and the committee are taking entries now.
“It’s a totally different format this year because of Covid restrictions, we are not able to have the big auction dinner,” Colin said.
“So, we are planning ahead for different things and the calendar is just one way of coming up with extra money.”
The group hope to raise $3,500 from the 225 calendars they’ll have for sale at local stores and through their website.
“We’ll get past $150,000 this year, that’s in just five years!” Colin said of their total fundraising efforts so far.
“We are still raising money for the Kapunda Hospital but we’ve actually changed it to ‘caring for the community’. It gives us the option if there is something really important or needed in the community, we can address that as well.”
