The world of soft furnishings is not something you would normally associate with glamour.

But all that has changed due to the inspiration of Cullingworth man Alan Clarke, who hit upon the idea of making a calendar featuring beautiful women to promote Sherborne Upholstery Limited.

And he didn't have far to go to find nine willing models from his sales staff, who showed they were just as adept at posing for the camera.

They were taken to a top hotel and photographed relaxing by the pool, working out in the gym and enjoying five star treatment.

The group also included mother and daughter Caroline and Shelley Saddington, who were photographed for March and November respectively.

Alan, 60, who is sales, marketing and design director for the Clayton company, has been amazed by the response to the 2002 calendar and has even been labelled with the tongue in cheek title of the Hugh Hefner of the upholstery industry.

"The reaction from our customers has been quite phenomenal," he says.

"We've had people saying things like 'can we have three in the jacuzzi next time'.

"It was just a case of everyone does calendars and we have such a wonderful set of girls here who get on so well with our customers, but the customers never get to see them.

"We thought it would be a great idea to do a glamorous calendar featuring them, but we didn't want it to be sexist or tacky.

"At first there was a bit of trepidation about doing it, but the girls have a great team spirit and now they have done the shoot and seen the results they think it's absolutely brilliant and are all ready for next year's."

The 4,500 calendars have been sent to Sherborne's customers in Britain and across the globe including the USA, Germany and Australia.

Alan, who lives in Lees Close, gets into the swing of things and is pictured on the golf course as Mr June.

He also makes "Zelig" like appearances in the background of a handful of the other photos.

Alan adds: "I've already come up with the idea for next year's calendar but it's a secret."