COVENTRY dancers were having a ‘fab-u-lous’ Christmas while raising a record-breaking amount for a city hospice.
Strictly Christmas, which raises cash for Coventry’s Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice, took place across three shows at the Royal Court Hotel in Keresley and raised £154,000 for the charity.
Over 1,000 audience members enjoyed the fun along with 13 celebrity judges, including Harry Judd of McFly and BAFTA award-winning David Bradley, who played Mr Filch in the Harry Potter film series.
The judging panel also included former pro dancers from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing including Vincent Simone, Flavia Cacace-Mistry, Robin Windsor and Kristina Rihanoff.
After just eight weeks of learning to dance, 23 contestants and their professional dance partners looked to Cha-cha-cha their way to victory.
Across their time training, contestants were asked to fundraise for the hospice, with cash-raising events including cake sales, raffles, sweepstakes and blackout cards.
A special recognition award was presented to Emily Leach, owner of FiT365, who raised the highest individual amount at just over £11,500 by organising a 24-hour charity fitness event.
Since starting in 2017, Strictly Christmas has raised over £640,000 for Zoe’s Place.
Ian Carr, Head of Fundraising at Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice Coventry, said: “I am running out of words to describe just how grateful we are to everyone involved in Strictly Christmas.
“Every year the participants seem to go above and beyond to raise these incredible amounts for us and this year they’ve gone further than ever before.
“The funds they raise mean we can provide the palliative, end-of-life and respite care to children with life-limiting conditions and their families- it truly changes lives.”
