Plas Newydd hosts a wuthering wonderful day of dance action

 

* A cavalcade of Cathy Earnshaws "go for it" in the main wuthering event at Plas Newydd.

It has been a wuthering wonderful day at Plas Newydd where 230 red-clad Cathy Earnshaws from all parts of Britain went through their stylish paces in Llangollen's first ever mass recreation of the famous Kate Bush 1978 dance sequence.

For the past couple of years similar events have been held across Britain to raise thousands for charitable causes. 

The local woman behind this fantastic extravaganza, which filled the grounds of the stately home with music, movement and laughter, was Moira Gleed who organised the event soon after learning that she was terminally ill.   

Last October her imagination was fired by a WhatsApp film of a Wuthering day elsewhere in the country and she decided that Llangollen really ought to do something similar.

She gathered around her a hard-working bunch of volunteers who helped her put everything together to make today a memorable success, with all money raised going to Welsh Women's Aid.

Advertising of the event began on social media early in the year and within just 11 days the entire stock of over 200 tickets was sold out.

Today dancers came flocking from all parts of the UK - from London to Scotland and Yorkshire to Cardiff - and also more locally.   

After three practice runs led by the two choreographers which set the high standard for the main event, town mayor Cllr Damon Richards-Gwilliam officially declared the proceedings open, saying he hoped everyone would have a "wuthering wonderful" time, which indeed they did judging from the enthusiastic way they threw themselves into the action again and again on a rather warm afternoon.

The area's MP, Becky Gittins, was also hand to announced that Moira and her daughter Rowena, who helped her tremendously with the event organisation, had been jointly awarded her Community Champion of the Month award for June.

After lunch it was time for the big dance itself, which came with three encores.

And far from being a female-only affair, there were at least four guys who had entered into the spirit of things by dancing along in red dresses.

Just before the grand finale performance Moira came to the microphone to admit that the day's turnout of dancers plus with spectators had exceeded her wildest dreams from last autumn. 

She thanked the team that her helped to build the whole thing from scratch and then told the waiting dancers to "really go for it," which they duly did.

The whole sequence was faithfully filmed by a number of people in the crowd and one man told how his live recording had been beamed thousands of miles to a friend serving on board the British Antarctic Survey ship Sir David Attenborough on the southern ice shelf shelf where he and fellow crew members had been dancing along enthusiastically with the action back in Llangollen.

Certainly it was a day to remember with global reach.   

* The town mayor, Cllr Damon Richards-Gwilliam, gets the event underway. 

* Becky Gittins MP announces that Moira and her daughter Rowena had won her Community Champion award for June.

* Town crier Austin "Chem" Cheminais, wearing his specially dyed-red beard, dances along with the action.

* Organiser Moira Gleed (right) with deputy town mayor, Cllr Charlie Jones, who was the event compere.

* The MP stayed to join in the dancing.

* Town crier Chem grabs a celebratory dance with Moira Gleed. 

* Dancers fill the Plas Newydd field with red-clad action.

* A pause in the action during the legendary Kate Bush dance sequence.

* Keeping a close eye on the choreographer to get things just right. 

* Not just for the girls: Mike Gleed, husband of organiser Moira, steps out with the best of them. Below: another male interpretation of the routine. 

* Close to the end and the dancing is as energetic as ever. 

* The big dance winds up with a scaffolded Plas Newydd - where entry was half price on the day for dancers - in the background.