A RACY charity calendar hopes to show that sober doesn’t mean boring while raising much-needed funds for Alcohol Change UK.
The calendar - titled Sober is Sexy 2023 - has been compiled by 12 everyday people who use social media to open up discussion about alcohol, addiction and promote a sober lifestyle.
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It was the idea of Southend-based sober blogger Michael Sargood and his friend Michael Singh.
Michael Sargood, a 40-year-old civil servant from Southend, gave up drinking in February last year after his drinking escalated during lockdown
“The ridiculous thing is that this is the sort of thing I would only ever have contemplated drunk before,” he said.
“There’s a real stigma that non-drinkers are boring or even worthy of suspicion. But I’m having a much better time now as a non-drinker than I ever did propping up a bar and falling over.”
Mr Sargood says the plan had started off as a joke, but when people began volunteering to get involved, it soon became a reality.
“It was a bit like of those pub conversations you might have that’s gets out of hand,” he said.
“We said all we needed was 10 other people willing to get their kit off, which we didn’t expect to manage, but within a day we had a full calendar worth of models!
“That was the terrifying moment we released we would have to deliver on this now.”
With an initial print-run of 300, the calendar aims to raise at least £3,000 for the charity Alcohol Change UK.
Michael Singh, a 31-year-old project-manager from London, said: “I’ve been raising money for charity by taking donations for digital portraits for a while now and I was talking to my friend Michael about how we might step it up a gear.
“And that’s when we came up with the idea of a Calendar Girls-style calendar featuring regular non-drinkers being a bit raunchy.”
Representing the month of January is sober podcaster Dave Wilson, who used to work alongside Peter Andre on ITV’s 60-minute-makeover.
He said: “Getting my kit off in public isn't something I do much now I'm knocking on a bit and sober, but I see first-hand the difference that this amazing charity makes to people's lives and had to get involved.”
The calendars are available online at sobersocials.co.uk/sober-is-sexy-2023
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