Twelve weeks ago many of the couples taking part in Strictly Learn to Dance had never even set foot on a dancefloor — but on Saturday they entertained hundreds of guests at the Macron Stadium. Steven Thompson went along to find out who would take home the famous glitterball trophy.

FORMER Strictly contestant Edwina Currie may have been the star turn — but it was the 20 Bolton couples braving the dancefloor who stole the show at the Macron Stadium on Saturday night.

The glitzy showpiece event is now a firm fixture in the Bolton calendar and this year’s event was the biggest and best to date.

A record 40 contestants took part in the dance competition, with everyone from caretakers and lawyers to journalists and businesspeople learning three dances in just 12 weeks —including The Bolton News' political correspondent Elaine O'Flynn.

Edwina, who left organisers sweating until the last minute jetting in from Dublin for the event, told a packed audience at the Premier Suite at the Macron Stadium that, while the celebrities on Strictly get hours of expert tuition every week to learn one dance, to learn three dances in just 10 lessons was outstanding.

She added that while appearing on the jungle reality show I’m a Celebrity was daunting, it was nothing compared to learning to dance.

Comperes Andrew Dickson and Phil Ashcroft — who host the Friday morning show on Bolton FM — kept the audience entertained throughout the night and kicked off proceedings by introducing the waltz.

All 20 couples took to the dancefloor for their first dance, before four couples at a time performed the quickstep, the first judged dance.

Audience members then got the chance to have a boogie before contestants each performed their specialist dance.

Gemma Watson and Rob Ranyard won both the quickstep and their specialist dance, the salsa, while quickstep runners-up Harriet Geddes and Julian Holt won the Argentine tango with four 10s from the judges.

Mark Laithwaite and Emma Brooks were crowned rock ‘n’ roll champions, while Leanne Fane and Liam Mulhall won the cha cha cha.

There was also an audience vote, giving people a chance to crown their own winners on the night — and taking home that prize were Anita Hodgkiss and Norman Burns.

Our Elaine had a tough act to follow — our business reporter Liam Thorp won the competition last year — and she came home without any trophies.

This left just one prize — who would be chosen by the judges as the overall winners?

Each of the four finalists performed their specialist dance one more time before the judges crowned the 2015 Bolton Hospice Strictly Learn to Dance champions.

And it was Harriet Geddes and Julian Holt who went home victorious.

Teresa Croasdale, principal of A Touch of Class Dance studio and teacher to the novices, said: "When we started back in November Julian was a complete beginner and Harriet had done a bit of ballet but never ballroom.

"They worked so hard on the Argentine tango. It was very polished and they were very worthy winners."

Mr Holt, who owns Premier Stores bed centre in Bolton, and Mrs Geddes, who works for a hotel chain, raised £4,000 between them for Bolton Hospice.

Mr Holt said: "When we first started practising I thought 'what on earth have I taken on?'.

"It was quite overwhelming, but with the help of Teresa she taught us the dance in a few short weeks.

"There were only three people in our section for the tango so we thought we had a good chance of winning that but we never thought we would win the whole thing.

"Getting four 10s was fantastic. If we hadn't won after that I wouldn't have minded because we got four 10s and that meant a lot.

"Apparently Edwina Curry was leaning over the desk when we first did the dance so she could see better.

"I would definitely recommend that people sign up for next year and help raise even more money for the hospice."

Leigh Vallance, chief executive of Bolton Hospice, said: “Events like this do not happen without an enormous amount of effort from a lot of people.

“So a lot of thanks must go to the dance tutors, the dancers themselves, and everyone behind the scenes who has worked on this event. It has been a brilliant night of entertainment.”