Bollywood met Strictly Come Dancing at Blackburn Central High School.

A special night targeted at empowering women included demonstrations of Bollywood dancing from Asian Image columnist and entertainment writer Neetal Parekh of Kreative Production and BCHS graduate Maryam Ghaffar.

There was a Strictly Come Dancing style competition for the girls from various year groups at BCHS with Crosshill.

A special mention must go to the team from Crosshill School, who were superb and really got into the spirit of things.

The evening was the brainchild of two year 9 students, Yasmin and Farha who worked tirelessly to bring together a really superb event.

Pastoral and progress co-ordinator for Year 9 Alison Deaville said: “It was an amazing evening. The girls worked so hard to plan the event, from designing posters, selling tickets and managing to get rehearsals organised. They really are fabulous ambassadors for BCHS with Crosshill.”

As the evening was based around empowering women, it was ladies only.

Special guests included Colonel Myszka Guzkowska, Deputy Commander 42 (North West) Brigade, and Dot Thomson, School Improvement Officer for Blackburn with Darwen, who said: “What a fabulous evening. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Thank you to the students and staff for this very special event”.

Colonel Myszka Guzkowska gave a very motivational talk about the value of grasping opportunities that come your way in life, including the chance to travel and making the most of a good education. Head Diane Atkinson said: “It was a very colourful and uplifting evening, which rose over £240 for the Soldiers’ Charity.”