The Big Feature - Calendar Girls

Her hair is more blonde than auburn and the face a little more made-up than her daughter's but, to put it in gardening terms, the pair are almost like two peas in a pod.

Which is why it was such a surprise that no one picked up on the fact that the star of a raunchy calendar brought out last year for charity was, in fact, Charlie's good old mum, wearing nothing but a warm smile and a wet T-shirt.

The calendar was a fundraising gimmick produced by Sue's firm Wise Marketing, which saw Sue and her fellow drinkers at the Rockingham Arms pub in West Wellow, where she lives, stripping down and baring all to raise cash for the Rose Road Appeal. The publicity and fan mail they all received was staggering.

In fact, their calendar has sparked a series of copycat versions around the country - from WI ladies to Winchester Conservative Party members. But Sue knows she was the trendsetter and that only her revealing calendar gained admiration worldwide.

Charlie was well into the filming of cult show Ground Force when the calendar was released. She was popular then but had experienced nothing like the adoration and celebrity status she has now. But she was a TV star and Sue was stunned when no one clicked that the Sue Dimmock doing the publicity and revealing her all for a charity calendar was the mother of one of the country's up-and-coming stars.

"It was ages before anyone cottoned on,'' said Sue.

"There was I in a rather revealing wet T-shirt while Charlie was making a name for herself as a gardening star and nobody put the two of us together - yet everyone says we look so alike. It was such a surprise.

"It wasn't until one paper got wise that things started to happen and within a few days the village was crawling with newspaper hacks trying to dig up some dirt on Charlie and me.

"They wanted the villagers to turn their nose up at it and say it was crude and unnecessary. What they weren't expecting was that the whole village was out in force in support - even the guy in the pet shop had a poster in the window voicing his overwhelming support - not to mention selling the calendar.

"It was only by sheer fluke that Charlie herself wasn't a Miss September or Miss March.

"We'd had so many people who wanted to take part there wasn't the space for her so that was that. I would imagine they would have made the link if she had been.''

One year after the calendar, which raised more than £7,500 for the Rose Road Children's Appeal, Charlie herself was in front of the camera posing for her own pin-up calendar, which was to spark more than a little controversy in the national press.

With little more than a begonia to cover her modesty in one picture, Charlie struck 12 poses which will have her army of fans a little hot under the collar.

Sitting around her corporate table, puffing on her trademark cigar, Sue states bluntly that she doesn't know what all the fuss is about.

Basically, she believes, the national media have built Charlie up only to find some little thing to knock her down with - and this happens to have been it. A calendar which, apart from two somewhat dubious pictures, shows just what a beauty our Charlie really is.

"It makes me die really, all the hoo hah over the calendar,'' says Sue.

"You get papers like the Mail who feature a piece on Charlie generally every day yet when the calendar was released there was one piece in the same paper saying how tired they were of all the Charlie exposure - well, in my mind, if they are tired why on earth is she still there smiling back from their pages and writing a column for the Sunday title every week

"It is ridiculous. Charlie takes it all in her stride - it's just work to her and she's making the most of it while she can. I don't understand her attitude that it could all disappear tomorrow. Why should it She is a well-liked person, beautiful and very talented, and there are no skeletons in her cupboard. It will only be the press that try to bring her down.

"It's like all this bra-less business. We all think that is hilarious. I mean, the thing is Charlie isn't even that buxom. She's a 36B but it seems to be her selling point, the fact that she bounces a little while digging.

"She gets that from me because I hate the things, too. I bought Charlie a bra when she first sprouted breasts but God knows what happened to it. It's like all this calendar "scandal". The pictures are hardly risque - I think my moment of fame was a little more raunchy than her pin-up debut - her pictures just show her beauty.

"But all the bra business and calendar nonsense doesn't phase Charlie because that's the kind of girl she is. She is so laid back and just takes things as they come, trying to enjoy life as much as she can. If it did all end tomorrow she will just get on with her life at Mill Water Gardens and that will be that.

"As a child, Charlie had a similar mentality, although I don't think any of us could have guessed that she'd be where she is today. Saying that I always knew she'd do well in whatever she chose to do.

"When she was at college she studied really heavy subjects like maths, biology and physics - or was it chemistry I can't remember. Anyway, she wanted to be a forensic scientist but pulled out of college because she wanted to work full-time at the garden centre where she started one summer as a Saturday girl.

"I was annoyed but I knew she wouldn't be happy not being qualified and, sure enough, a while later she told me she wanted to go back to college. From then on I think her history is well documented.

"Charlie is a succeeder. I'm so proud of her. She's been interested in gardening since she was knee-high and even at that young age my father, her grandad, used to teach her all about the garden and even teach her the Latin names for plants.

"We had an old cottage on Canada Common and had a huge garden which backed out onto the New Forest.

"The garden was too big for me to look after by myself, although I loved gardening, so I used to ask my dad to come and help and there would be Charlie, his little help eager to lend a hand.

"Charlie's dad, Terry, was in the Navy and used to be away for months at a time. It was hard doing the single mother bit so dad's help was greatly appreciated. I was only young - 21 in fact - when I gave birth to Charlie, and, despite press reports to the contrary, I was so happy when she was born.

"The media turned Charlie's conception into something evil and sordid. It has been widely reported that I sat in the bath with a bottle of gin and a knitting needle trying to abort her because I didn't want children. That is a blatant lie. The truth was when I found out I was pregnant I was scared. I sat in the bath with Terry and a gin and tonic but one sniff of it and I felt sick - I was in the early stages of morning sickness.

"It is hilarious how these rumours spread. I suppose when you have a daughter who is famous you have to expect a bit of dirt-digging and malicious rumour. But the truth of the matter, if any paper is interested, is that having Charlie was the best thing I ever did. I was a free-spirit as a young girl - I'd like to think I still am now. But people have transposed that into me being a way-out hippy chick into free love and drugs and that certainly wasn't the case. I like bright, colourful clothes and I'm not exactly conventional but I'm not weird.

"When Charlie was younger all her friends would love coming over to our house to play games and eat cheese and tomato ketchup sandwiches in our cottage. The cottage is still there today, Charlie's dad still lives in it. We aren't together anymore but Charlie still has a very strong bond with both of us and we often meet up at family parties and at the pub for a few drinks.''

Flicking through a collection of Charlie's baby photographs around the boardroom table, Sue giggles as she recounts tales of Charlie as a child; her innocent way and angelic nature.

"I couldn't have wished for a better baby,'' she said, showing me the cutest snap of Charlie peering from under her dad's naval hat.

Charlie's stardom has made Sue a celebrity in her own right and she is also being asked to join Charlie on TV.

Recently the pair jetted off to Tunisia to re-live a holiday they both took when Charlie was 12 and Sue says they had "the best time'' re-enacting old times.

"It was funny going back. I mean, the last time we went Charlie was on my passport. She was big for 12 and we had trouble at the airport when men with guns demanded to know where the baby was. I told them she was standing beside me but she looked so grown-up I don't think they believed me.

"The holiday then was great fun and it was even better a second time. The funniest thing was knowing what to wear. Charlie phoned me the night before asking what I was taking. I said I didn't have anything so she told me to bring everything I had - she did the same and we pooled our wardrobe. We often do that. Charlie and I are very close. She only once gave me cause for concern and that was when she was 17 and stayed out later that her curfew. I was driving the streets looking for her checking every ditch and when I got back there she was. It just so happened she'd tried to call to tell me she would be late but I was out.

"The only thing I tease her about now is the fact there don't seem to be any grandchildren on the horizon with her and her partner of 12 years, John.

"I think I would make a wonderful granny but she wrinkles her nose. She's not a bit interested. Still, I suppose her career is blossoming so I can't blame her.''

Sue files away her pictures and prepares to go to the Rockingham Arms with her beloved dogs to meet Charlie for a drink. Tonight they will share a girly gossip over a glass of Special Brew and giggle about this week's press cuttings. Two more unassuming, genuine women you are not likely to meet. Such a refreshing change in today's egotistical world.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.