Willen Hospice to benefit from glittering JustDance event

The answer, of course, is Celebrity JustDance 2016, which shimmied its way to glittering success at the Arena MK.

The Citizen-sponsored event took local ‘celebrities’ and paired them with professional dance partners to compete before a panel of expert judges.

Organiser Accursio Romeo is still counting the proceeds of the evening, but is confident it will result in a hefty cheque for Willen Hospice.

Over the past three years the event has raised a total of £106,000 for Willen Hospice, Keech Hospice Care and Macmillan Cancer Support.

This year’s show saw fierce competition between the celebrities, who included Milton Keynes College principal Dr Julie Mills, city police commander Gez Chiariello, Franco’s Ices boss Francesco D’Errico and centre:mk marketing chief Shaun Rhodes.

The winner was Jessica Bowden-Eyre from Audi UK. Partnered by professional Alfie Sadowski, her “cheeky” cha cha won over the audience and the judges, said Accursio.

The judging panel was comprised of Richard Arnold, vocal coach Yvie Burnett, Strictly sensation and cricket star Darren Gough and JF Dance clothing company head James Moorcroft.

After the fun-filled Saturday evening, Sunday saw schoolchildren from all over MK take to the stage to compete for the Junior JustDance title.

Eight schools took part, all learning impressive cha cha and foxtrot routines.

Pupils from Water Hall Primary School were crowned the winners of Group A, while the Loughton School team won Group B.

“The judges were particularly impressed with the time and effort the children put into the outfits they had created,” said Accursio.