BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Are you camera-shy? While some of the volunteers at the Lakeshore General Hospital (LGH)’s Windmill Café may be, it sure doesn’t show in the photos for their 2008 calendar titled “Coffee, Tea, or Us.”

The calendar will be on sale later this month, starting with the LGH bazaar on Oct. 25. All proceeds will go towards buying new equipment for the hospital.

Gillian Linsdell, the Windmill Café’s manager, explained that the idea to create a calendar featuring some of the restaurant’s 65 volunteers came from just chatting, and a 2003 English movie.

“We were just talking one afternoon, and I said we should be like the girls in Calendar Girls and have a calendar. And, at first, everyone was like, oh, I don’t think so. So, I said, yeah, but we won’t be naked like the Calendar Girls,” Linsdell joked. “Once we started talking as a group, more people came by. We always do it in between making scones and squares in the oven, five minutes here and five minutes there. And people got more and more interested.”

After doing some research on the Internet, Linsdell came across professional photographer and Kirkland resident Hera Bell, who offered her time and talent for the project. The group met with Bell to brainstorm ideas, and decided to showcase the favourite hobbies, activities, and personalities of the Windmill Café volunteers. Following a two-week production period, Bell and the volunteers put together a colourful, fun final product.

“It’s kind of weird and wonderful,” Bell said of the photos that feature everything from gardening and cooking to ballroom dancing and dining out. For many of the volunteers, this was their first time being part of a professional photo shoot.

“A lot of them were a little reluctant at first. It was really stepping out of their comfort zone, I can’t tell you. But they did it so happily. Maybe they’ll be even more daring next year. Who knows?” Linsdell said, adding they hope to make the calendar fundraiser an annual event.

Geoff and Lorna Wheatley – or Mr. and Mrs. February – didn’t have too many qualms about participating. Except for one: “As long as we weren’t asked to undress,” Lorna said, laughing. Geoff and Lorna, both in their 80s, are pictured kissing over a Valentine’s Day dinner, complete with champagne. But, if you look closely, while the champagne flutes are full of bubbly, the bottle in the tub is unopened. Some may be quick to assume this was a small detail overlooked during the photo shoot. But not so, said Geoff: “We just say, well, that’s our second bottle!”

The long-time Windmill Café volunteers both agree the calendar experience was both fun and a great way to support the hospital. “It’s just the satisfaction that we’re helping,” Lorna said.

The volunteer-run Windmill Café, located on the main floor of the LGH near the blood taking and ambulatory care units, provides goodies for hospital staff, patients, and visitors. Linsdell said she’s very happy the calendar shows another side of the volunteers.

“They’re just a bunch of great interesting people. It (the calendar) is about joie de vivre,” she said, adding the café will have calendars for sale once they come in. “(The volunteers) don’t just come a half a day a week. They come two, three, four times, and they have so much goodwill. I think that came through in the pictures. They’re fun.”

Calendars will be available at the Windmill Café, and at the LGH bazaar, 160 Stillview Ave. on the ground floor, on Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They are $10 each, with proceeds going to the hospital.