A Havering hospice is hoping to cha-cha-cha its way to raise £50,000 by putting amateur dancers to the test in a Strictly Come Dancing-inspired fundraising event.
St Francis Hospice, in Havering-atte-Bower, Romford, will host its second annual Strictly St Francis event at the Brentwood Centre on 23 October, pairing eight hospice supporters with professional dancers to compete for the glitterball trophy.
Among them is hospice ambassador Skip Atkins, 67, who has been training three times a week since being paired with dancer Jolita Kudoke in June.
“My children are shocked and amazed,” said Atkins.
He said: “I’ve never danced a step of instructed dancing in my life. I think I’m great when I’m on the dance floor after a couple of beers, but this is a whole new ball game.”
Atkins has already raised £30,000 over 10 years for St Francis Hospice in memory of his wife Jan, who received care from the hospice and died in 2016.
He said: “Everything I do for fundraising, I do it for Jan. She was cared for so well and was so loved by the team.”
Atkins will perform a waltz and a cha-cha-cha, with each contestant taking on one ballroom and one Latin routine.
He said: “I feel like I’ve remembered enough steps for an old bloke. I have to get a spray tan, I never thought I’d have a spray tan in my life. I’m becoming a proper Essex boy at my ripe old age.
“We’re not thinking about it as a competition. We just want to do our very, very best and see what happens. The most important thing is the good of the hospice. I call it an oasis of love.”
On top of money raised from ticket sales, each contestant has a fundraising target of £1,500, with those who meet the figure awarded 10 additional points on the night.
Charlotte Winder, events and community manager at St Francis Hospice, hopes the event will attract 1,000 people and beat the £46,000 raised last year.
She said: “Last year over 800 people came along. This year I’m confident we’ll get a sell out.
“There’s a real buzz in the air after last year’s event. What we do can obviously be quite serious, so an uplifting event like this is so wonderful.”
Returning as the competition’s host is Andy Furneaux, a local engagement team member at St Francis Hospice and DJ at Brentwood-based Phoenix FM.
Also returning from last year’s event is competition judge Rita Sinclair, who has taught dance lessons for Havering Council since 1982.
Sinclair, 74, was awarded both the Mayor of Havering’s Civic Award and a BBC Radio London Make a Difference Award this year for community service.
She also has a personal connection to the hospice, after her husband Ken, who received care from the hospice, died in January 2024.
Sinclair said that the people of St Francis Hospice were key to the success of last year’s event.
She said: “Last year I trained a group of 12 nurses to do a formation cha-cha-cha. They would come in their uniforms, straight from the ward. They can have really awful days, so they were just amazing.”
So what will it take for this year’s dancers to score a 10 from Rita?
She said: “All of them have put in commitment, and commitment will show on the dance floor. But they need to put their nerves aside and look as though they’re enjoying it as well.
“They’ve all won already anyway. They’ve raised all this money.”
She insisted that this year’s group dance and other surprises will be top secret until the big night: “I couldn’t possibly say. Everyone will just have to come and see.”
Feature image credit: Trevor Robinson
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