Two reporters and a photographer from the Stroud News & Journal have dared to bare all, posing naked for a calendar to help raise funds for a six-year-old autistic girl.

Reporters Lizanne Weafer and Abigail Firkin, and photographer Sarah Standing, were among 100 women who volunteered for the stunt - lying naked in a field to spell out the word 'autism'.

Braving the cold and rain in an Uplands field, they stripped off as a photographer flew overhead in a helicopter to get the perfect shot for the front of the calendar.

After exchanging their clothes for little towels, Lizanne, Abigail and Sarah trouped down to the field, where volunteers were divided into groups according to their size, and joined the "vertically challenged" group.

Liz said: "We were all part of the U.

Lizanne

"When we chucked our towels aside we all felt so self-conscious and I didn't really know where to look.

"But pretty soon we were chatting and laughing and telling the Channel 5 cameraman - the only man there - to strip off and join us.

"There was a great atmosphere and everyone was so brave - now I know how naturists feel."

Sarah

Abby said: "I felt very liberated - we were sitting in a field completely naked but we didn't care what we looked like because it was for a good cause.

"To be honest I wasn't nervous on the day but I was nervous about seeing the final photo."