VIEWERS can see what happened when the original Calendar Girls met with the North-East queen of the bras in a BBC documentary next week.

The middle-aged women from Rylstone and District Women's Institute, near Skipton, North Yorkshire, became famous around the world after they posed naked for a Millennium charity calendar.

Their story was the inspiration behind the blockbuster movie Calendar Girls, which starred Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

Four of the original group came to Consett, in County Durham, last year to meet entrepreneur Sadie Ayton, who runs a bra-fitting service from four shops across the North-East.

Sadie, 66, used her hands-on approach to properly fit the women with bras.

She said: "They invited me down to their WI to give a talk about what I do.

"They came back to the shop for a proper fitting and the BBC came with them."

It is part of a programme to be shown at 7.30pm on Monday on BBC North-East and Cumbria.

The calendar, which was the idea of WI member Tricia Stewart, was produced to raise money in memory of John Baker, a close friend who died of cancer.

It raised more than £900,000 for the Leukaemia Research Fund, made international stars out of the women who took part, and inspired hundreds of groups across the region to follow suit.

Published: 03/01/2004