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Stuart Wadsworth poses with his strimmer as Mr February for the ‘Tools with Tools’ calendar.

Hong Kong men go the full Monty for charity calendar, with tools strategically placed

What started as a conversation about power tools ended up with a group of men being snapped naked in Sai Kung with only items like drills and strimmers protecting their modesty, all in aid of charity

A group of male friends in Hong Kong have stripped off and flashed their tools to produce a calendar in time for Christmas to raise money for two causes close to their hearts.

The Sai Kung residents got naked and hid their private parts behind workmen’s tools in aid of friend Catherine Lumsden, who runs dog shelter Catherine’s Puppies, and the Movember Foundation, which seeks to raise awareness about men’s health issues.

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The “Tools with Tools” calendar is on sale in Sai Kung shops and online at toolswithtools.asia for HK$200. Five hundred copies have been printed and about half have already been sold.

The idea came about after two typhoons – Hato and Pakhar – battered Hong Kong in close succession in August, says Stuart Wadsworth, 41, a publisher and one of the models.

A friend had been chainsawing fallen trees and conversation turned to tools. Another friend mentioned he had once posed semi-naked with a power drill for a promotional campaign.

“The conversation then went from power tools to calendar girls, and then it just took one of those alarming turns,” says Wadsworth, the calendar’s Mr February, whose prop is a grass strimmer.

“We thought, maybe we should do it to raise money. Maybe people would be stupid enough to buy it.”

Sai Kung resident Sing Lai, aka Mr January.

The photo shoot took place one Sunday afternoon during a party at Wadsworth’s Sai Kung home.

“We ran across the road to use the barbecue pit. Unfortunately it’s on the number 94 bus route so double-decker buses kept going past,” he says. “It started out as a bit of a laugh and it’s come together pretty well.”

Entrepreneur Steve Dullard, 51, who poses with a chainsaw as Mr October, says it took guts agreeing to be in the calendar.

“At the end of the day, you’re taking your clothes off in front of a man with a camera – and anyone passing on the number 94 bus. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling. It doesn’t matter how drunk you are, it doesn’t get any easier,” he says.

Five hundred copies of the calendar have been printed.

Mr August, restaurateur Doug Marshall, 52, who hides his genitals behind a power drill, says it was never the intention to get a group of young, fit-looking models together for the job. It was about friends helping friends. “If you look at us, none of us are Chippendales, and that was the point of it,” he says, referring to the professional male striptease act.

Lumsden, 39, who looks after about 40 dogs at her shelter in Ho Chung, says she appreciates the daring efforts of her friends.

“It was very touching because these guys help me out in so many ways, which I don’t give them enough credit for. If I need something brought to the shelter, if I need something built … they do it,” she says.

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The calendar has already made a difference. At a launch event in Sai Kung, the shelter raised an additional HK$16,400 through a lucky draw.

It has also been the source of many jokes. The models turned up for the launch with pens to sign the calendar, Lumsden says.

“Steve’s wife says she’s sick of him calling himself Mr October around the house in the third person.”

Dullard adds: “Even the helper says to me: ‘What would Mr October like for lunch?’”

Lumsden also says a Sai Kung beauty salon has inquired about using Mr March, content producer Andy Wright, 47 – “the palest man in the world” – in its promotions for tanning beds. She’s not sure if this is another joke.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Sai Kung residents grin and bare it all
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