TEN amateur dancers turned professionals for the night as they took to the stage for Strictly St Rocco’s.
 

The charity event helped raise more than £27,000 for St Rocco’s Hospice as the dancers from across Warrington had their own Strictly Come Dancing experience in learning how to dance.


At Mere Golf Resort on Sunday night they finally hit the dance floor in front of judges Ben Westwood, Beryl Rigby, Ralph Casson and Mayor of Warrington Clr Peter Carey.


And crowned winners were Warrington Guardian chief reporter Vicki Stockman and her dance partner Jamie Sloan who wowed the judges with their Viennese waltz.


In second place was entrepreneur Holly Ikin and her partner Chris Savage whose cheeky cha cha got the crowd cheering for more.


The event was sponsored by Jones Lang Lasalle and was run with Cadman’s Dance School in Sale.

A hospice spokesman said: "“Strictly St Rocco’s was a very special night.  It summed up everything about St Rocco’s that is so special - it captured the hearts and minds of the community and raised thousands of pounds towards patient care at the hospice.

"We would like to thank everyone who attended and the 10 dance couples who were brave enough to put themselves through the experience.

" Special thanks must go to our sponsor Jones Lang LaSalle and to Cadman’s Dance Centre, whose support and expertise made it all possible. The judges and hosts also did a superb job on the night. All in all -  a real night to remember.”

To see a full gallery from the night click here
 

Chief Reporter Vicki Stockman relives the night:

AFTER weeks of training and trodden toes it all came down to 90 seconds.


But the hours of waiting beforehand did not help and the green room where us dancers (ahem) were waiting was filled with anxious faces and nervous smiles.


But what an experience when you stepped out on the dance floor.
The whole thing was a blur, but that may have had more to do with the amount of spins in my routine.


As someone so clumsy to have fallen off stage in school plays with frighteningly regular occurance it seemed pretty surreal for anyone to be describing me as elegant.


Everyone did such a brilliant job as it’s no mean feat learning to dance a new routine with just six hours training - on Strictly Come Dancing they do that amount of training in a day.


But most importantly thousands of pounds have been raised for St Rocco’s Hospice.

Here is the winning performance filmed by Chapelford Films and a DVD of the night will be available in the new year.