Flowers, bowls, watering cans and iced buns were among the props that have been used to keep the latest Woodlands Cancer Centre fundraiser on the right side of decent.

The items have all been strategically placed to cover the blushes of Huntingdon healthcare workers who have joined together to make a charity calendar and help those whose lives have been blighted by cancer.

Nineteen women are featured in various poses in the calendar ‘You Get One Life, So Live It!’, including health care assistant Hannah Leach, 33, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March.

“I found a lump in my breast, but for a while doctors just thought it was a cyst because of my age,” she said. “But then I had an ultrasound scan and it was discovered I had cancer. I have had six sessions of chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy and radiotherapy.”

The mother of three, who is now in remission, was talking to paramedic Trevor Van Kleef, an amateur photographer, when he suggested that they do the calendar in aid of the Woodlands Cancer Centre appeal – staff are aiming to raise £800,000 to extend the facilities at Hinching-brooke Hospital.

“It was at the end of my treatment a few weeks before I went back to work, and it was a bit of distraction from all that I had been through,” she said.

Mr Van Kleef lost his sister-in-law Nicola, who lived in Perry, to cancer in January. “She was treated at Woodlands and I also became aware at the time of colleagues who had been affected by cancer,” he said.

Photo shoots were arranged at his home in Warboys with the help of his wife Andrea.

“Taking photos of people that I knew with their tops off was bizarre. But it was very important to me that they had their dignity because I work with them. So I would leave the room while Andrea helped them get into position with props such as flowers, bowls, cakes, watering cans, and then I came back in.”

INFORMATION: The calendar costs £10 and is available at the centre, at Barrett’s in St Neots and Superdrug in Huntingdon. For more details go to www.tvkphotography.co.uk/woodlands.