Harrogate couple, Ben Bolton-Grant and Dean Bolton-Grant have taken to the ‘Strictly’ ballroom, and bravely danced in front of a celebrity panel to raise money for a Charity, Action for Stammering Children
Harrogate couple, Ben Bolton-Grant and Dean Bolton-Grant have taken to the ‘Strictly’ ballroom, and bravely danced in front of a celebrity panel to raise money for a Charity, Action for Stammering Children

Harrogate couple take to the ‘Strictly’ ballroom for charity

24 October 2019

Harrogate couple, Ben Bolton-Grant and Dean Bolton-Grant have taken to the ‘Strictly’ ballroom, and bravely danced in front of a celebrity panel to raise money for a Charity, Action for Stammering Children.

Ben (34) and Dean (44) were contestants in Action for Stammering Children’s ‘Strictly’ fundraiser. They spent 8 weeks training with a professional dance tutor, James White of White Diamond Dance Studios, after which they performed a brilliantly executed Jive, live in front of friends, family and a celebrity panel, headed by Strictly star Ed Balls and featuring Strictly favourite Vincent Simone and previous Strictly Bafta winning producer, Vinnie Shergill. This all took place in a glittering gala event in central London on 17 October 2019.

The ‘Strictly’ fundraiser was a great opportunity to raise money for a cause close to home as Ben works as a Speech and Language in Leeds and also supports the Charity through organising and leading the ‘Talking Out’ residentials, a project to support young people who stammer in the North.

Both Ben and Dean are huge Strictly fans and have said of the evening that taking part in the Action for Stammering Children Strictly challenge was so exciting! The work the charity does is life changing, and by taking part in the challenge they hope to help more children who stammer and their families get the support they need. They loved the training and were very excited to perform on the big night, and it was ‘fab-u-lous darling!’.

The couple worked incredibly hard over the 8 week period both training and raising money. They are still fundraising and are just below their target of £1,000 so there is still time to support them by visiting their JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BenandDeanBG

Ben and Dean were one of 11 couples taking part in the Action for Stammering Children’s ‘Strictly’ fundraiser, which took place at St Mary’s Venue in London.

You can check out photos from the evening on the Charity’s Facebook page as well as follow them on Twitter @ascstammering and Instagram @stammer_action for updates and future events.

  • Action for Stammering Children (ASC) is a UK charity which aims to ensure that every child and young person across the UK who stammers has access to effective services and support to help them meet the challenges they face.
  • Latest research suggests that up to 8% of children will stammer at some point, and approximately 1% continue to stammer into adulthood. In the UK that means that 1.5 million children will experience stammering as they are growing up.
  • Stammering crosses all races, cultures, religions and social groupings, conceals intellectual ability, affects educational choices and achievement, resulting in impaired communication skills, and in some cases can become a focus for teasing and bullying. Without appropriate support, in severe cases, a stammer may play a significant part in a young person’s ability to achieve their potential and to make a full contribution to society as an adult.
  • Action for Stammering Children is celebrating its 30thAnniversary. Since it was founded, ASC has supported 88,000 children and young people who stammer.
  • The Charity is based in The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in Central London and commissions specialist assessments and therapies for children and young people that stammer, research and the training of speech and language therapists across the country.

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