How It Started
By Kara, Rosie's Mum
Bonnie, Goldy, Kara, Ele Emma
Some girlfriends and I were in the kitchen having a coffee when we came up with the idea. These girls had been amazingly supportive to me over the years, and I was telling them about the Growing minds program and how we needed £17,000 or more, to build Rosie a classroom in the garden, buy the equipment we would need and travel over to America to learn how to teach her.
We played around with ideas, soon realizing that a classic sponsored walk was not going to cut the mustard... Cake stall? No. Then Goldy came up with a genius idea:
"I'll do a sponsored ride down our high street on a horse, naked like lady Godiva! That will bring in the funds!" she joked
"I'd rather jump out of an aeroplane 5 times over!" I laughed, but within 5 minutes the idea had matured into 'The Full Monty Girls'.
We were five women, ordinary housewives, sizes 10 - 18 suddenly on a mission. It seemed like a great idea, completely crazy and wild, but we needed to get people's attention and raise money fast and this seemed like a great way to do it.
It was a huge challenge, and just like in the hit UK film "The Full Monty" we trained with professional dancer and friend Jo, and then performed a Burlesque style Full Monty dance on stage. And YES we did get fully naked by the end of it, - just for a second!
It was the bravest and craziest thing any of us had ever done and we raised £2,500 on the 1st night. Since then we've performed around the country and have raised well over £30,000 for Rosie.
Being a Full Monty Girl has proved to be a transformative experience for all of us, and has involved finding the inner confidence and beauty that had become lost in the trials and tribulations of life. We certainly weren't 'skinny minnies' by any stretch of the imagination, and like lots women we have various body issues: stretch marks, cellulite and everything else that real women might feel insecure about in this 'size zero' obssessed culture. But we discovered that you dont need a perfect size 8 body to feel good about yourself and connect with your inner sensuality.
Yes we had to be brave! Yes we had to bare all! But we were doing it for Rosie to give her the chance of a better life so we did it with a huge smile on all our faces, and we had lots of fun!