Chocolate-lovers were yesterday given a cheeky invite to unwrap an original Calendar girl for charity.

Three of the Women's Institute members who famously stripped off for a charity calendar helped unveil a box of chocolates bearing their image.

They hope sales of the sweets will help top up their fundraising to the £2 million mark.

Skipton-based chocolatier William Whitaker has used the famous nude images of the girls of the Rylstone Women's Institute to create a cheeky chocolate box, with proceeds going to the charity Leukaemia Research.

Angela Knowles, whose husband, John Baker, died from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and inspired the calendar, was joined by fellow pin-ups Beryl Bamforth and Tricia Stewart at the launch of the venture at Waitrose in the Brunswick Centre, central London.

Mrs Bamforth, 73, explained how the chocolate had come about.

"The head of the firm saw the film and thought what a good idea' and contacted us, and we thought it was brilliant."

Mr Whitaker, who owns Whitakers Chocolates Ltd in Skipton, has wrapped 12 pieces of plain chocolate in images from the original calendar which was a resounding success when it was first put together in 1999. The boxes are on sale for £1.99, with 20p going to charity.

Mrs Knowles, 61, said the chocolates were one of a series of events to help the fundraising hit £2m.

"We're up to £1.5m now," she said. "Never in a million years did we think it would still be going on eight years after we started, and that we'd have had a film.

"I'd love to get to £2m, it would be fantastic. The chocolates will help us on our way. We have signed a deal with Disney for the film to be made into a stage show and there is also a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

"It would be fantastic to do it this year. Coming up to ten years since we started it would be just great."

The 1999 calendar was only expected to sell a few hundred copies around villages in Yorkshire but became a worldwide sensation, outselling those of Britney Spears and Cindy Crawford.

In 2003, their story was turned into a Hollywood film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

Two more calendars followed, with a third planned for 2008 featuring the women's favourite recipes.