‘Zumba’ring Success for Bay Adoption Awareness

Over £1,000 was raised on Saturday by 124 women and 1 gentleman who ditched the work-out and joined the party by taking part in Torbay’s first annual ‘Zumbathon’ in aid of adoption awareness and local charity Families for Children.

The event saw three local Zumba instructors put the group through their paces in a three hour marathon session of the dance at Torbay Leisure Centre in Paignton.

For those who don’t know Zumba is the new aerobics craze hitting the Bay from the USA combining hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program. The craze was started by Berto Perez who turned up for an aerobics session -- and found he had no music not knowing what to do he dashed back to his car where all he had was a blend of salsa, reggae and Latin music and Zumba was born!

Katey McDonald from Families for Children, said: “The afternoon was amazing - I was overwhelmed by the support we received for this event bearing in mind all the other charity activities happening around this time of year. The day was so humid and warm so to want to dance for 3 hours in peak afternoon was dedication! The turn out was fantastic. It was a great success for us and we are now hoping it will become an annual event”

Award winning fitness instructor, Paul Harrison, Zoe Bowden, Aztec studio coordinator and Alexandra Williams, all choreographed a 45min set for the event and each with a different style made for an exciting, fun filled afternoon.

Paul Harrison commented: “The afternoon was incredible. Zumba is a great way to have fun and work out and it was brilliant to see so many people get involved in raising awareness and money for such a worth while charity. We hope we can continue this making it bigger and better each year”

Katey continues “I must say a huge thank you to all those who supported the event and especially to Paul, Zoe and Alex who gave their time to make sure this event was a success. We also had enormous support from volunteers which was invaluable on the day”

Families for Children Adoption Agency, based in Buckfast, is currently searching for potential adoptive families in Torbay and the surrounding area. They specialize in placing children from all over the UK with secure and loving families in Devon. If you have ever considered adoption and would like to talk with them please call 01364 645480.

You can also listen to a radio interview which went out on BBC Radio Devon - by clicking here (mp3 - 5.3MB)