Gail, Jet Black Squares Oxford, supports local charity calendar

This time of year is all about giving back where we can, so when Gail Lambert, who runs Jet Black Squares Oxford, heard about a charity calendar shoot in support of a local school, she was delighted to help.

The Hundred Acres in Bicester is a family run pub headed by landlady Liz Curtis. Liz has worked hard to transform the pubs reputation in the last two years and part of this has been making it into a family friendly establishment. Bardwell school is a local special educational needs school, which is well supported in the local community, and it was one of the parents who got in touch with Gail to help with the shoot.

Pub staff and families took their turn posing around the bar to create a ‘nearly nude’ festive calendar. All of the shots that Gail took were captured using only her smartphone camera.

Profits from the calendar will be given directly to the school, who have been facing increasing cuts in recent years. A parent with children at Bardwell School, David Ford, said: “In these times of limited funding, this is massive for our school.” Landlady Liz commented: "It’s nice to have all the families involved, and we just want to bring the community together.”

The pub will also be holding a raffle with donated prizes, one of which is a voucher that can be redeemed on one of Gail’s Oxfordshire smartphone safaris.

The calendar shoot was a first for Gail who had lots of fun running the shoot.

“It was really nice for everyone involved too. Everyone was heavily involved with the selection of photos. It was very much a group decision.

“The men wore jockstraps and dickie bows. The ladies were not fully revealed either. We had well placed bottles of wine, pint glasses, and people wore things to cover themselves up.

“It was a very enlightening experience. They were all really good sports.

"By the end of the shoot I’d forgotten everyone was walking around semi-naked. It was just like being on a beach.”

The calendars are available to buy at the Hundred Acres pub, in Hart Place in Bicester.

Would you like to find out more about smartphone photography

Gail runs smartphone safaris across Oxfordshire, including Bicester, Oxford and Banbury.

If you would like to get in touch, book on a group safari, or find out more about a 1:1 session, visit her page, here.