Barr to battle for Strictly glitterball

Rebecca Peters Moneyslaine FC Strictly Come Dancing

Taking place in on March 12, 2016 in the Bannville House Hotel, 12 couples hope to ‘cha cha cha’ charm a panel of judges with their moves, and work their way to the top of the leaderboard at the charity event.

And competition will be tough in the Barr household, as Glenn’s wife Andrea is also competing for the prized glitterball trophy.

Councillor Barr said: “We hope to raise funds for local charities as well as the football club. We’re just in the process of selecting the charity - it’s still to be confirmed, but it will be something local.”

Jo-Ann Dobson on her way to a wedding, dropped in the congratulate Glenn Barr on topping the poll in Banbridge © Paul Byrne Photography INBL1421-289PB

The couples taking part are all local and their names were drawn out of a hat.

Although the councillor comes from a footballing background, he does have a few dance moves up his sleeve.

“There have been jive and line dancing classes running over the last six months at Finnis Orange Hall, and I’ve been at some of those.

“At first when you see the dance performed you think ‘how are we going to do that?’, but then as the weeks go on and you start to pick it up, you see others coming along and the looks on their faces as they watch you dance makes you feel like a professional - even though you’re still far from it.

“The classes have been good craic.”

The councillor also revealed he was the first onto the dance floor a few weeks back when Ritchie Remo performed live in Banbridge.

“We are hoping to sell 700 tickets for the evening and the response so far on Facebook has been brilliant.

“Training starts in January and all the competitors will take part in a specially choreographed dance at the start. We then have to perform our own dance - some sort of a fast dance. There’ll be no slow dances which is good, as that might be too much like a High School Dance.

“The whole night will be done like Strictly - there will be a green room where our interviews will be fed through.”

Filling the glittering shoes of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be Uel McKee doing MC. There will also be a panel of judges and Shane McKeever is the choreographer.

As part of the fundraising there will be opportunities to sponsor the couples and Councillor Barr is asking anyone interested to contact him.

“I’ll have to think about what dance I will do,” he added, “now that my wife tells me Salsa is not Spanish food!

“I’ll have to start watching Strictly to see what I can do.”