Victoria and I were in tears... for Linda, for everyone who has been touched by breast cancer

proud of all the survivors getting in touch with their stories.”

Victoria reveals she got an email from Julie Walters, 68, who starred in the 2003 film Calendar Girls about Women’s Institute members who strip for charity.

She says: “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s an original Calendar Girl.’ She said she cried a lot and she loved it.”

Victoria and Coleen confess they came close to quitting during the two months of rehearsals. Coleen only made the decision to bare all at the eleventh hour.

“Even as I was walking on stage I was thinking, ‘Oh my God I don’t know’. I just had to think of why I was doing it.

“All day I kept saying, ‘I wish Bernie was here’. I thought she’d be screaming at me, ‘Just get them out’. I’d have felt I’d let everyone down if I didn’t do it.” Victoria, who documented her treatment on social media, had decided beforehand.

“We’d come so far and bonded so much. I knew I would do it because in my head I was in a much stronger place.”

Coleen’s ex-husband Ray Fensome sent a text, saying: “Wow – so proud, well done, sobbing my heart out.”

While Victoria’s husband Mark Sandell missed the performance to look after their boys aged 11 and 13, they watched the show on TV with friends. Victoria says: “We were crying and laughing.”

She credits Coleen’s friendship with helping her through the experience.

She adds: “I spoke to her on Friday. She had such a guiding hand for all of us. I told her, ‘You were the one that kept us steady’. She was awesome.”

Hugs as audience cheer support