Strictly winners crowned

The curtains have closed and the champions crowned- Cáit McGovern and Dylan Byrd are the winners of this year's Strictly for Cuan.

The event saw around 1,400 people head to the Hotel Kilmore on Sunday night to watch the dancing spectacle put on by those who volunteered their time to raise much-needed funds for the local cancer support charity.

A whopping €240,000 was raised on the night between online ticket sales and funds raised by each of the 12 couples. When the Celt rang Stephanie Lord, who is on the Cuan fundraising committee, donations were still coming in.

“The atmosphere was just electric; we had a packed-out house. The room was just full of happiness and, as the dancers came out on stage, the crowd really, really got behind them. It was just phenomenal.

“From start to finish, just an amazing night.”

The crowd “lifted the roof” off the Hotel Kilmore when Dylan and Cáit were crowned very worthy winners on the night.

“They were very deserving winners - they trained, they practiced, all the dancers - did but Dylan and Cáit really put a lot of work into their routine.

“They put their heart and soul into it.”

For Dylan, it's not his first time dancing on stage. In 2015, Dylan represented Cavan in the live semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent as a hip-hop sensation- an experience that certainly stood to him last Sunday night.

The dancers had all been practising for the past six weeks, and each brought their very best to the stage.

As a member of the fundraising committee and a user of Cuan's services, Stephanie and the other five members of the committee know that users are always eager to give back to Cuan. They thought Strictly would be a fun way to give people a chance to do this, and they were correct.

“A lot of our dancers, some of them were past Cuan service users. Some of them are actual service users at the moment, and some of the dancers were dancing on behalf of family using the service.

“We thought doing a Strictly event would allow people like that to do their own wee bit of fundraising and to help Cuan. That's how it came to fruition and it just grew legs from that.”

She praised the couples who worked “so, so hard” over the past few weeks. Looking back on first day rehearsal videos to their performances on the night, “the difference is night and day.”

“They are a fantastic group of people, they have all bonded, they have made friends it has just been a wonderful experience.”

'Mind blowing'

The Crossdoney woman described it as “mind blowing” that Cavan has a service, which is free of charge, like Cuan in Cavan.

“We're so lucky to have it and they have a fantastic team.”

She described it as “surreal” to raise almost a quarter of a million and counting for Cuan. “The fundraising committee, yes okay we did our bit but, honest to God, it was the dancers. They were the ones that went out, done the fundraising, went into different business, banged on doors, sent WhatsApps, rang people looking for sponsorship. It was down to them really, we were very much in the background, they did all the hard graft.”

Stephanie thanked everybody who supported Strictly for Cuan, and those who support the organisation on a daily basis. “Everyone has been so, so generous.

“Unfortunately you don't have to go very far to find somebody that's been touched by cancer, it resonates with a lot of people. I just want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart who has supported [Cuan] in any way.”