Grin and bare it!

Oct 19 2008 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

WHEN the plucky ladies of Rylstone Women’s Institute decided to strip off for a charity calendar in 1999, they were seen as daring to go bare. But these days everyone’s at it . . . even burly rugby league players. PAULINE HOLT gives you a nudes update.

RUGBY League star Paul “Scully” Sculthorpe has just been signed up . . . by his dentist to appear on a charity calendar wearing nothing but a smile.

But, sorry to say ladies, the goal-kicking loose forward and former Great Britain captain stops short of showing off his famous tackle!

Scully is one of 12 brave dental patients who agreed to be photographed naked for the latest saucy charity calendar to be launched in the North. And he swears it didn’t faze him . . . although he confesses his wife knew nothing about it till the shoot was over.

“I’ve done photo-shoots before with my shirt off and that, but never completely starkers,” said the dad of two, who posed for pictures earlier this week at Newcastle’s Mansion House.

He added: “We’re so used to walking around with nowt on every day in the changing rooms, it was easy. In fact, in the end, I loved every minute of it. Mind you, I only told my wife Lindsay after I’d done it. But she knows what rugby players are like . . . we’ll do anything for a laugh and it’s all for a good cause.”

Three cancer charities will benefit from what they hope will be bumper sales, including St Oswald’s Hospice, where the dental practice’s former manager, Mandy Fisher, was treated before she died three years ago.

Scully, 31, who lives in Wigan, Lancashire, with Lindsay and their two children Jake, eight and Lucy Jo, five, decided to get involved after dentist Ken Harris of the Riveredge Cosmetic Dentistry practice in Sunderland gave him back his smile.

The two-time Superleague “Man of Steel” and face of Gillette, who also captained Great Britain against New Zealand in 2006, had problems with his teeth since breaking his jaw seven years ago while playing for St Helen’s against Wigan.

But now his gnashers look as good as new, thanks to custom-made veneers and implants.

Lining up alongside Scully are 11 more of Ken’s patients, aged 22 to 74, including a hairdresser, an artist and a sports development officer.

Susan Bulmer, 50, a medical secretary from Whitburn in South Shields, South Tyneside, is one of them. She lost four teeth in a moped accident in Ibiza in the 1980s and recently had an up-to-the-minute bridge replacement to give her a smile to be proud of. She said: “The photo-shoot was a bit like being in one of those TV makeover shows like How to Look Good Naked. It was good fun and very relaxed.”

And how does she feel about being our centrefold? “Look out Hugh Hefner!”, she laughed.

V The 2009 Wearing Nothing but a Smile calendar will cost £10, although any donations above this will be greatly accepted. It can be bought from either of the Riveredge clinics in Sunderland or Jesmond. or by calling the Sunderland clinic on 0191-567 1020.

Are you producing a wacky charity calendar? Get in touch by calling 0191-201 6426, or email scoop.sundaysun@ncjmedia.co.uk