Thank you to everyone who supported this years event we raised a staggering

£1,315 for the Christian Lewis Trust!

Please feel free to browse the videos and photographs from this years event.

Christian Lewis Trust Charity Line Dance - Event Report March 22^nd 2008

On Friday the 21^st, with one day to go to this years charity line dance workshop & social, my best friend Ann Lockhart and I had the mammoth task of taking all the wonderful raffle prizes that had been donated to the hall. There were so many, that we just knew we would never get everything in the car Saturday!  So after a brief phone call to Gaynor at the Woodland Road Sports and Social Centre in Cwmbran, it was agreed that she would store the raffle prizes over night for us ready for Saturday. 

Saturday morning arrived, and with it an early start for myself, Ann and Harriet. Once again, we packed the car with the remains of the raffle prizes and other provisions for the day. We set off to the florists to collect all the bouquets of flowers for some very special people who supported this year’s event. Soon we arrive at the hall ready for a very busy day.

There was much to do with the event being a complete sell out, the room would soon be bursting with expectant dancers anticipating a day full of fun.  So straight away, we set about placing all the many raffle prizes out on display, putting out the request slips and flyers for future events around the tables and ensuring the hall was ready to start the workshops at 12 o’clock.

Chris and Dom arrived at 10.30 am, to set up the music and sound systems for the day. Soon Alison Biggs and Peter Metelnick arrived. Then it was time for a quick cuppa before the ever eager dancers started arriving for a day packed with workshops and social dancing.

You can download the playlist here for the day, along with all the step sheets for the dances taught on the day.

We started off with some social dancing before Alison and Peter did their first teach of the day – ‘Catch the Rain’, which given the weather was somewhat appropriate (though may it should have been called – ‘Build a Snowman’!) What a lovely dance – love the claps, and the music is gorgeous.

Some more social dancing followed and then Chris taught ‘Gravity’ – a lovely two wall waltz – I love waltzes so maybe am biased, but absolutely loved this dance.

Peter then taught a particular favourite of mine ‘Winner at a losing Game’ – I just get lost in the music of this one. Peter taught this one on the cruise he and Alison hosted in January, I was hooked then and all the dancers I spoke to on Saturday loved the dance also.

A few more social dances, then Alison taught ‘Beauty and the Beat’, needless to say this is also a fab dance, which was really well received by all.

Then followed another social dance.

At three o’clock, it was time for the surprise Rock & Roll taster session with Ann Brankley and her partner David. This was great fun, gave our brains a bit of a work out too – us line dancers are not really used to either leading or being led!! Much hilarity ensued and a lot of patience from the instructor! We all thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, and managed to look not too bad to music!

The workshops continued through the afternoon with Darren Bailey teaching his dance ‘Good to be Us’, followed by the much requested 'Temptation' taught by Peter and a quick recap 'Winner at a losing Game'.

The final teach of the afternoon was from Alison who taught a fantastic dance called ‘Mercy Me’, if you haven't tried Alison's dance, you really should give it a go, as it is so well phrased - it hits the beat perfectly! This took us up to the end of the afternoon session at six pm, when it was time for the exhausted and hungry  dancers to leave for a well deserved short break.

During this short break the room was miraculously transformed into a glittering party haven for the evening – take a look at the photo gallery and you’ll see what I mean. Darren and Lana took the opportunity to have a quick run through of their routines for their demo’s planned for later in the evening and Broadcaster arrived ready to set up for the evening.

Chris, Dom, Peter, Alison, Darren, Lana, my Mum, Aunty Kay and the rest of my fantastic helpers had time to have a quick snack and change for the evening.

Dancers started arriving back at the hall for the evenings social dancing at 6.45. The evening started with Peter, Alison, Darren and Chris taking a quick walk through of all the teaches from the afternoon.

At eight O’clock Broadcaster performed their first set – which was wonderful.

As the band finished their first set it was time to draw the raffle tickets – which was a huge task with so many wonderful prizes. Thank you Katie for your help with that, it would have taken half the night other wise!!

It was time then to give my sincere thanks to my mum and Aunty Kay who once again manned the doors for me! Shame was one person claimed to have paid by cheque when she collected her ticket on the door and actually hadn’t – still fortunately in the world of line dancing, this is a rare occurrence, especially when the day has been organised for charity.

Then came a surprise Birthday Cake! Peter Metelnick had been working his line dance boots off all day – and on his birthday. So I had organised a birthday cake, with the welsh words for ‘Happy Birthday’ iced on it, so that he would always remember his birthday in Wales – Pen Blwydd Happis Peter!    

Without further ado, it was time for Darren and Lana’s first demo of the evening. It was absolutely stunning - even surpassing last year.

Following this, Fay from The Christian Lewis trust gave some words of thanks and talked briefly about the charity’s hard work on behalf of children with cancer.

More thanks from me then to Chris Adams and Dominic Fairley– without whose support and hard work this event would be even more difficult to organise!! Peter & Alison for coming along and instructing for the day - and on Peters birthday!!, all of the other helpers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event a success and to all of the dancers who came along and supported this event making it such a fantastic day. So fantastic, in fact that it’s already organised for next year – Saturday March 21, 2009 – same time, same place! Get your tickets early as it’s sure to be a sell out again!!

Darren and Lana then did their last two demos – which were stunning - the applause was thunderous!!  I then thanked them for coming back again and a final applause was given before Broadcaster and Chris Adams played until the end – which was just before 12!! I never know where we linedancers get our energy from – I think it must be because we always have such a good time and a fantastic atmosphere.

Despite the snow, rain and all the other variations of weather! The day was a roaring success I think you’ll have to agree when you view the pictures and see the comments – we raised £1,315 for the charity. Over the first two years we have raised a fabulous £2,457 for The Christian Lewis Trust children’s Cancer Charity – they were absolutely speechless when I called them with the fantastic news and asked me to pass on again their sincere thanks from the charity and the families this money helps. So THANK YOU AND REALLY HOPE YOU CAN MAKE IT NEXT YEAR! We have another full day of workshops and a fabulous evening lined up on 21 March 2009! Tickets on sale now – Same prices as this year until end of June.

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