LAKELANDS STRICTLY CORBY 2019 RAISES AN AMAZING £62K
This year’s Strictly Corby event held at the Best Western Rockingham Forest hotel on Friday 27th September was an incredible success once again, so far raising a whopping £62,035.35 for Lakelands Hospice who organize and run the event in conjunction with Mashdance. The total was the culmination of ten weeks fundraising and dancing and provided a fantastic night’s entertainment for the sell-out lively crowd of over 490 people. The event was also broadcast live over the airwaves and screened live via the internet by the Corby Radio team.
Strictly Corby has now raised over £360k for Lakelands in its nine-year history.
This year’s winner was Nicola McHugh who was representing “Team Lynn” (in memory of her sister) and her professional partner Carl Turner Fountain, the dancers were awarded points for the amount of funds they raised in the lead up to and on the night and these where added to the judges scores for their dancing performances, the two scores combined gave Nicola and Carl the overall title.
Nicola also took home the Vic Hardy Cup for the best fundraiser raising an incredible £14,296.40k which is the highest individual amount ever raised in Strictly Corby’s nine-year history.
Nicola commented “I entered Strictly 2019 in memory of my sister Lynn and to give something back to the hospice. I can honestly say the whole experience from start to finish has been amazing. Having Carl as my partner made the experience even better, he was so supportive and so much fun. I have met some wonderful people along the way that will be friends forever.
I am so proud of the people of Corby as without their support I would not have achieved the staggering amount that I raised, so a big thank you to all involved.
The whole experience will stay with me forever and will be something I will never forget, thank you Lakelands for letting me be part of it.”
Runners up this year were Ricky Girvan and his partner Natasha Davison, Ricky commented “It was an amazing experience, something I’ll never forget, my family and friends were so supportive, its awesome to have raised so much for the hospice, to have been part of a great team and to have danced my way into second place.”
In third place overall was Shonagh Fullarton and her partner Charlie Walker with an energetic boxing themed show dance, Shonagh commented “Taking part in Strictly Corby has been a wonderful experience, I’m immensely proud of the amount raised and of all the 2019 team who have been so supportive”.
Owner of Mashdance School of dance Shelley Davis who provided the professionals for the event commented “All of the Mashdance dancers give up their time for free and I was really pleased with the quality of the dancing, there were some very technical dance routines performed to a high standard, it was also amazing to have helped Lakelands raise such a fantastic amount over the past nine years”
If anyone is interested in taking up ballroom and Latin dancing, you can find all the details on the MaSH dance website.
Gaz Stevenson and his partner Eleanor Springham took away the Best Show dance award on the night awarded by the judges for their stunning Charleston inspired synchronized routine, Gaz commented “The whole ten weeks was an incredible buzz topped off by winning best show dance”, whilst Jema Thorpe representing Salonista and her partner Gez Lyons were awarded the “Ray Burke Spirit of Strictly” title given to the couple who have had the most interesting journey. Organizer Paul Marlow commented “Jema and Gez were a really enthusiastic couple, to dance to that standard made it a fully deserved award”.
Jenna who was delighted with the award said, “The Strictly journey has been incredible, one of the best experiences of my life and such good fun, I’d recommend it to anyone to get involved”.
Lakelands fundraising manager Paul Marlow, whose team organize the whole event in aid of the hospice commented “We are all so thrilled to have pulled off yet another amazing Strictly Corby event, it’s a real team effort by so many people especially by all of the dancers who really pulled together as a team to put on a professional show. This event really captures the Corby public’s imagination with the tickets selling out in just over ten minutes. The feedback from all quarters has been fantastic; The Mashdance MDP and Tail feather dancers’ gang who performed in the intervals went down a storm and I’ve even had several people approach me after the show to put themselves forward for 2020”
All the photos of the amazing night can be viewed at http://alanjkanephotography.com/
The amount raised will go to helping Lakelands raise their annual total of £545k which with no NHS or government funding is a vital step forward in making their goals.
Paul said, “There are so many people to thank, it’s a real team effort, but without the support of the people of the Corby Borough who continue to get behind everything we do we wouldn’t be where we are today”.
