Scottish builders bare all for charity

The men have been praised by their bosses for stripping off for a good cause

Builders merchants strip it back to the bare minimum for charity calendar.

It has been described as where Calendar Girls meets Bob the Builder.

Now the efforts of a group of builders merchants to raise money for charity with a flesh-filled fundraising calendar have been hailed by their bosses.

Staff at GPH Builders merchants, which is based throughout the North East, stripped back to the bare essentials in aid of Alzheimer Scotland and CLAN Cancer Care.

GPH sales and marketing director, Nikki Mortimer, said the men had been “extremely brave” to shed their clothes for the cause adding that the company was “extremely proud” of those who took part.

Photographer Carol Frost led the men through the various poses with wheelbarrows and bit of fencing amongst the items used to conceal at least some of their modesty.

Ms Mortimer added: “Everyone involved really got in to the spirit of things – which we feel shines through in the end result.

“Staff who participated were asked to nominate a charity they would like to benefit from the sale of the calendars. CLAN and Alzheimer Scotland were selected as the two charities closest to their hearts.

“Our customers have always been very supportive of our charity fundraising efforts, and we hope that by raising a few smiles we will encourage people to dig deep and support these two worthy causes this festive season.”

The calendar is now on sale at the firm’s three branches at Inverurie, Stonehaven and Westhill in Aberdeenshire.

Colette Backwell, chief executive of CLAN, said: “We are delighted to have the support of GPH and cannot thank the team enough for choosing CLAN – not to mention their efforts in producing the calendar.

“Every penny raised for CLAN goes towards meeting our goal of providing support for anyone affected by cancer in the north-east, Moray, Orkney and Shetland and we are always grateful for the generosity shown by those throughout the areas we serve.”

Rachel Smith, head of corporate partnerships at Alzheimer Scotland, added: “We really appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of GPH Builders Merchants in raising funds for Alzheimer Scotland.

“There are over 90,000 people with dementia in Scotland and more than 4,200 in Aberdeenshire. The money raised by GPH will help us to make sure that none of them have to face dementia alone.”