Wheelchair dance group aiming for world glory

Wheelchair Sport Dancing, as practised by Wheels in Motion, is played under Paralympic rules and features adapted styles of everything from the waltz to the Charleston.

It gives people in wheelchairs something they “never dreamt of being to do again”, dance with their partners and not just sit on the sidelines.

Next weekend the group will represent Great Britain in an international championships in Holland, for which they needed to raise around £5,000. They are still short of raising the full amount, and have a further challenge ahead of them - £3,000 for two new dance wheelchairs.

Team member Bobbie Hubbard-Marks, who dances with partner Jenny and assistance dog Poppy, and is paralysed from the waist down, said: “We have raised, and indeed paid for, our hotel costs through getting up at five in the morning to stand, or sit in our case, at a car boot and sell as much as we can. We have held a raffle, tombola, dance demonstrations, written numerous letters to companies and charities to ask for their help to get us to Holland and to show that life does not stop when the unthinkable happens and a wheelchair ends up being your legs.”

To donate visit www.wheelsinmotionsheffield.co.uk