A DANCE leader got a 'Big Surprise' as she met her hero as a reward for her tireless charity work with help from the National Lottery.

Jen Blackwell, 36, met X Factor winner Alexandra Burke which was filmed and shown on ITV during an ad break of Saturday night primetime ITV show Take Me Out.

Jen, who has Down’s syndrome, founded DanceSyndrome, based in Accrington in 2009. It achieved charitable status four years later and trains people with learning disabilities to become dance leaders, with a focus on unlocking their talents.

In 2017 DanceSyndrome was awarded £160,000 of National Lottery funding to help them expand their Everybody Dance programme in Oldham and Beeston.

For Jen’s ‘Big Surprise’, The National Lottery arranged for her to meet her heroine, Alexandra Burke, at the world-famous Pineapple Dance Studios in London and perform her own specially choreographed dance to the singer’s hit record, ‘Hallelujah!’ The 90-second film was shown to an estimated audience of five million people.

Jen said: “I just can’t put into words how I felt. It was just amazing – I was totally lost for words. It was most definitely big hugs all around! I love Alexandra and have always admired her. She is such a fantastic inspiration.

“It was incredible to be able to perform for her at Pineapple Dance Studios – something which was totally beyond my wildest dreams. I cannot thank The National Lottery enough, it has literally been a once in a lifetime experience for me and something I will never, ever forget.”

In Hyndburn, which includes Accrington which is where DanceSyndrome carries out much of its work, over 600 individual National Lottery grants have been allocated which have amounted to around £21 million of funding.