THE glitz and the glamour of the movie industry in the South of France is a world away from North Yorkshire.

But no one can begrudge the members of Rylstone Women's Institute their VIP status at the Cannes Film Festival.

Let us not forget how their international fame came about. When Angela Baker's husband died of leukaemia, she and her friends at the local WI set about raising funds for cancer research.

So far they have raised over half a million pounds.

Calendar Girls, the film version of their story, was premiered to critical acclaim in Cannes yesterday. It goes on general release across the world later this year.

With royalties from the film going to the Leukaemia Research Fund, the Rylstone WI have now set their fund-raising target at £1m.

If the film captures only a small part of the women's incredible story it is destined to be one of the box office smashes of the year, and deservedly so.

These women deserve their place in the spotlight, not only for ridding WIs of their rather conservative image, but also for coming up with an ingenious and innovative way of raising money for a most worthy cause.