'Not So Strictly Come Dancing' - what a night!

SAFE@LAST is celebrating after the ‘Not So Strictly Come Dancing’ event, held last Saturday 21st May at the Sheffield City Hall was a big success.

The event was the third of its kind the charity has benefited from and saw eight couples undergo weeks of training to perform two dances in front of over 300 people and four judges.

All couples performed both a Tango and a Samba.  They received comments and scores from the judges and the public voted by putting money in the bucket of their favourite couple.  The top three dancers then performed again before the judges had the unviable task of sending one couple home.  The finalists then danced for the last time before the public voted for their winner.

Bev Walls and Glenn Ollivant were the lucky couple to walk away with the shiny glitter ball trophy after impressing both the judges and the public with their impressive dance skills.

Speaking about the event Hilary Massarella, SAFE@LAST Founder Trustee said; “We are so grateful to every one of the BRILLIANT dancers whose commitment to training, to each other, and to raising funds through sponsorship has been phenomenal. All of this amazing effort has resulted in raising a spectacular £17,000 for SAFE@LAST. This brilliant amount will help us to continue to provide services for children and young people at risk through running away.  To put it in context the money could be used to fund the SAFE@LAST helpline for nine months - such an important aspect of our work that we do not get any other funding for and which is the way that children and young people access all our other services!”

Winner Glenn Ollivant said on the night “I am shocked and humbled to have come first in the competition and truly grateful for all the support from my friends, family and fellow dancers.  I have loved learning to dance but ultimately hope the charity is the true winner from this event so they can continue their excellent work.”

Dance partner Bev Walls added “We had a brilliant night and I enjoyed every minute with the added bonus of helping an excellent cause at the same time”