Naked Godivas wanted

6:53am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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WOMEN horse-riders across Oxfordshire are being urged to join a mass Lady Godiva-style naked ride to raise funds for charity.

The ride through London's Hyde Park is in aid of Maggie's Centres, a cancer support charity which has a base at the Churchill Hospital in Headington, Oxford.

The ride, which takes place at 11am on Monday, May 19, is the idea of young Oxford film director Vicky Jewson.

And she will be donating £5 to Maggie's Centre Oxford for each rider who dares to bare all.

Miss Jewson, 22, from Boar's Hill, Oxford, said: "This will be a fantastic opportunity for women all over Britain to do something fun and outrageous in aid of charity.

"Maggie's Centre is a place that anyone affected by cancer can turn to for help and support.

"Having naked Godivas riding through London is a great way to raise awareness - and also to celebrate the release of Lady Godiva on DVD."

The naked ride will be led by Miss Jewson's sister Libby, 19, who plays Penny in the film Lady Godiva.

Although Libby didn't get naked in the film, she did at the premiere in January, when she rode naked on horseback through Oxford to bring a bit of saucy fun to the event.

She is now reprising the role to encourage as many people as possible to recreate Lady Godiva's historic ride in 1057.

Vicky Jewson's film Lady Godiva premiered on January 22 and the DVD will go on sale on the same day as the charity ride.

Those taking part will need to bring their own horse, but parking for horseboxes will be provided.

Libby's naked horseback ride to the film's premiere, in January, brought part of Oxford city centre to a standstill.

She rode from the Old Parsonage Hotel, in Banbury Road, to the Odeon cinema, in Magdalen Street - which hosted the premiere. A crowd of hundreds swarmed towards her as she arrived.

Vicky Jewson, raised almost £1.5m to fund the film, a modern-day reworking of the legend of Lady Godiva - a noblewoman who rode naked through Coventry to protest against taxes.

Money raised will go towards a new Maggie's Cancer Centre on the site of the Churchill Hospital.

The Churchill is already home to an interim Maggie's Centre but from 2012, the city is set to have its own centre to serve a million people already using the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust and its cancer services, and 4,000 people newly diagnosed with cancer in the region each year.

Frances Milner, director of fundraising for Maggie's Centres, said: "What Vicky is doing is fantastic.

"We are over the moon that she is supporting our charity and doing it in such a powerful way.

"We hope to see lots of people joining in, as every rider will count."

To take part in the charity ride email Vicky Jewson at jewsonproductions@hotmail.com