Mary McEvoy poses for charity calendar after losing loved ones to cancer

The Glenroe legend is joining a group of other women to pose for a calendar that will raise funds for cancer research via the Irish Cancer Society, while also empowering women

Mary McEvoy is posing for a charity calendar after losing loved ones to cancer.

The Glenroe star is joining several other incredible women in order to raise funds for cancer research via the Irish Cancer Society - organised by Olivia Purcell, the owner of the gym Body Empowerment in Athboy.

The actress explained that everyone has been touched by cancer in some way and many people in her community want to get involved to help out.

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Mary, who is a member of the gym, shared how the idea came out.

She told RSVP Live: “I’m a member of this gym and it’s really changed my life. It has given me community. One day after a workout, someone was saying something funny and I just said, ‘We should do one of those Calendar Girl calendars.’

“Olivia Purcell, who runs the gym, her ears pricked up. I only live an eight-minute drive from the gym and by the time I got home, she had it set up.”

There is a group of incredible women getting involved in the calendar, all sharing their own story, and posing too in order to make up each month of the year.

“It’s not just me, I’m just one,” she shared. “There’s so many women with amazing stories, which they will tell to go with their picture. It may be about cancer and it may not be about cancer. It’s also about the women who are doing the calendar.”

“Olivia said the theme of the calendar is Body Empowerment and it’s about women stepping into their power and having fun with it.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to sell loads, because it’s going to cancer research.”

They are fundraising for a very meaningful cause, which is close to everyone’s hearts.

“All of us have been touched by cancer. Some people are fighting it at the moment, some people have had it or lost someone to it,” Mary said.

“I lost my cousin to it months ago, it was terrible. I live in a really rural area where you know your neighbours really well and they mean a lot to you. On our little road, which is a quarter of a mile, we lost three neighbours in one year - two to cancer and another to a sudden death. In the area in general, there have been ten deaths.

“I’m an only child and I don’t have children of my own, so your neighbours become very, very important to you.”

There is an amazing group of people included in the calendar, one of which is the talented and legendary hairstylist Keith Harris.

Mary added: “Keith Harris has battled cancer for the last 15 years and he came on board to do the hair.”

Opening up about her own part in the calendar, Mary will be addressing the topic of ageing.

She shared: “My own personal one is about owning age and owning the right to be seen cailleach - the witch or the old woman you might meet in the woods and be a little bit interested in, but a bit scared of. That’s what I’m going for.

“For the first time in my life, I want to own my image and say, ‘This is who I am and who I want to portray’. In the business, it’s never your sense of yourself, it’s someone else’s production of you. This is a line in the sand, this is who I am.”

The calendar will cost €20 and can be pre-ordered from the shop section of bodyempowerment.fit

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