The ladies in the North Taranaki Women’s Institute are not shy – as long as they are wearing a string of pearls. The group which has a good number of members from Bell Block has just finished making more than 50 sunflowers for New Plymouth Repertory Society’s production of Calendar Girls. We all know the story, In 1999 a group of Women’s Institute members from Yorkshire, England produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research, and New Plymouth woman Hazel Dodunski still has a copy of the original calendar. It was sent to her by a pen pal from the Women’s Institute in Horndean. Mrs Dodunski, is currently the President of the North Taranaki branch. In the original fundraising calendar 12 women posed nude behind objects, with a sunflower and only a string of pearls on. When Mrs Dodunski found out that Calendar Girls was being staged in New Plymouth she made contact with the director, Heather Harrison. The play, which opens on July 6th 2013 , is an adaptation of the popular 2003 film starring Helen Mirren. There are more than 200 members in the Women’s Institute in Taranaki and Mrs Dodunski has been a member for 39 years. The group was involved in a wide variety of different projects throughout North Taranaki.
