Five-hour funk-a-thon raises more than £2,000 for domestic abuse charity

Members of dance exercise group FitNFunkey organised the event, at Waterlooville Community Centre, to raise money for domestic abuse charity Refuge.

Women across the area paid and were sponsored to dance for five hours straight, and so far more than £2,000 has been raised.

Steph Fleet, 49, is one of FitNFunkey’s creators. She set up the event and said: ‘The turnout at the funk-a-thon has blown me out the water and we’ve smashed our £1,000 target.

‘My daughter was humiliated in the gym because she put on weight, so we decided to set up our dance exercise group, that’s where the idea came from.

‘We now have 60-plus people attend each of our sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday each week.

‘Refuge is a charity close to my heart, myself and my family were helped by it when I was younger, and some of our group members have suffered domestic abuse.

‘You don’t hear a lot about Refuge so I want to highlight the charity and its amazing work, and raise as much money as I can.’

Refuge is a national charity that supports more than 4,600 women, children and men through a range of services.

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Visit the Refuge website here

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During the event, Steph and daughter Chrissy were up on stage showing off routines for the dancers to copy.

They all powered on for five hours straight, stopping when they needed a break. The mayor of Havant, councillor Elaine Shimbart showed up to support the women, and even joined in with some dancing. She said: ‘I take my hat off to those involved, to dance for five hours straight is quite an achievement.’

Sharon Wenman, who is known as Footloose in the FitNFunkey group, added: ‘This has all been done for an amazing cause and the support received by the public has been overwhelming.

‘Everyone has put in so much effort.’

Money has been raised by each participant paying £10 to dance in the event and being sponsored by friends and family. Donations have also been received via the family’s JustGiving page.

Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/fitnfunkey-funkathon2017.