Strictly Inverness 2024 diary: Dancers smash £200k charity fundraising milestone
Stupendous. There are several alternative adjectives but that’s what I’m using to describe the collective fundraising efforts of those competing in Strictly Inverness 2024.
As a group, the 30-plus amateur dancers have generated more than £234,000 so far.
This will go to the annual dance contest’s organisers and hosts Highland Hospice and Inverness Ice Centre, making a difference in ways that none of us will fully comprehend and touching the lives of many people.
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The effort and enthusiasm that has gone into the fundraising has been incredible from everyone involved, but it wouldn’t have reached the heights it has without support from our connections. Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, neighbours, even strangers when shaking our buckets have all contributed to making this one of, if not the, most successful Strictly Inverness (at least in terms of fundraising) ever.
When it comes to the top individual fundraiser, it looks like Beth Saunders will take that title with more than £26,700 of donations. Fellow Team Thursday dancer Sonny Rhind is set to be runner-up with more than £23,300 and Team Friday’s Angela Urquhart has raised over £18,700 to complete the top three. All three totals are phenomenal.
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Personally, donations towards my fundraising have exceeded my expectations massively with more than £10,300 raised. I’m grateful to all who have helped make that happen. It has been so uplifting to receive such encouragement and support, which I'm sure other dancers would echo.
While we are still mastering our steps, we have been organising quiz nights, ceilidhs, karaoke events, ice skating discos, golf days, black-tie events and much more besides.
I've tried to flag up as many of these events as I could over the weeks. I've also tried to support my fellow dancers as much as I could by being at events, buying teams on football cards, purchasing lucky numbers and generally helping to raise awareness of what they are doing in order for it to reach a wider audience.
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My last fundraising event was a body waxing challenge at The Therapy Suite in Inverness. The Church Street salon is stunning and the professional way they went about the event was first class, especially when it came to guiding non-professionals who paid donations to pull some of the strips. There were some painful moments and there were constant reminders the following day of what I’d faced, but it was all for charity. I also took part in fellow dancer Jackie Sutherland’s fitness challenges at Bannatyne gym in Inverness last weekend which was different to the fitness training I usual do.
After signing up for Strictly Inverness, we were each set a target of generating a minimum of £1000 in donations between the start of January and this weekend. We all achieved that but people can still donate.
The fundraising is an important element of the competition because each dance couple is rewarded points in the semi-final based on their partnership's combined total. My dance partner Ruth Mason has been fabulous and brought in more than £11,000 in donations.
Points from fundraising (and votes at the show) are added to points earned via the individual dances – Ruth and I have a rumba and a samba to master. We are also learning a group dance as part of the run of shows.
Our dances are improving and we were testing our outfits with various run throughs this week. The ice has gone and the flooring has been positioned this week with further work to be done as we edge closer to showtime.
With fundraising coming to a close, we’ll be able to focus any contest-related attention toward our dancing with the aim of putting on the best performance each of us can muster.
