Ben boogies his way through Borders
Disco fever hit Coldstream primary with a visit from Ben Hammond who has stopped on route from John oGroats to Lands End as he sets out to be the first person to dance every step of the iconic journey�shaking, shimmying and shuffling over a thousand miles
PUPILS at Coldstream Primary School got their dancing shoes on to welcome teacher Ben Hammond who called in during his dance from John o’Groats to Land’s End.
Ben’s epic mission will see him dance the equivalent of 60 marathons in 60 days, take over three and a half million dance steps and consume the same daily calorie intake as Bradley Wiggins during the Tour de France.
So far he’s danced higher than ski lifts, up hills steeper than 20% and has already endured serious muscle strains and a recurrent bout of appendicitis in the 240 miles completed to date.
Ben (34) hopes the extreme effort is worth something, as he hopes to raise £50,000 to help build a better Burma through the work of five organisations including Amnesty International, the Burma Campaign UK and Ben’s own educational charity LearnBurma. He is trying to use dance as a popular, engaging symbol of the freedoms we have but which have been denied to so many in Burma. It’s a country he experienced first-hand as a refugee camp teacher in 2004/05 and which now has the best chance in a lifetime for real and lasting change.
Last week Ben called in at Coldstream Primary School where he was given a warm welcome. Pupils joined in a variety of dances before he set off again shaking, shimmying and shuffling over 1,000 miles until October 13.
Ben said: “Whether you join me to walk like an Egyptian through Edinburgh, Bollywood along the Borders, streetdance through Salford, I’d love to dance with you!”
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Weather for Duns
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 7 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
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