Lorraine Kelly at The Highland Hustle

Saturday morning. 6.30am.

I had still been dancing at the PKAVS ball just five hours beforehand and somehow I was now standing in Live Active Rodney wearing a questionably short tartan skirt and wielding a DSLR camera that I can barely use at the best of times!   What madness could possibly have dragged me up out of bed and into the gym I hear you ask?

Well, how about Lorraine Kelly, a Highland Hustle and a promise of helping out STV Appeal raise some cash for children living in poverty in Scotland?  Not a sentence I ever thought I’d type a damn good reason, I’m sure you’ll agree.

STV Appeal is a fantastic cause that supports kids living in poverty in Scotland; a staggering statistic that covers one in five children and young people. This means over 220,000 kids live in households where the money issue is so acute their families are deciding day-to-day whether it's more important to heat their house or sit down to eat.  STV Children's Appeal was launched in 2011 by The Hunter Foundation and STV who came together to raise funds and help make a real difference by providing practical help like food and warm clothes as well as creating opportunities for training and employability, and enabling social and emotional support.

Everyone’s favourite TV Scot, Lorraine Kelly, is currently a trustee of the STV appeal and announced this year that she would challenge herself (and pal Maxine!) to dance all night long in a bid to help raise much needed funds. Lorraine set a target of joining ceilidhs and groups across Scotland over a 24-hour period and called on anyone who might be able to help organise a get together and a dance stop for her and Maxine.

Enter Perth woman, Gillian Urqhuart, the founder, brain and fast moving feet behind the Highland Hustle fitness craze that is making its way round Scotland – and the world!  Gillian is a PE Teacher at the community campus in Kinross and in her hey-day of Highland Dancing was ranked fourth in the world.

She developed Highland Hustle when she realised that the Highland Dancing she loved so much was just proving too physically demanding to carry on.

“Loads of Highland Dancers are the same.  We love it so much but its hard work and you just can’t keep it going as you begin to creep into your thirties!  Highland Hustle takes its inspiration from the moves of my dancing days and works them into a fitness routine.  There are now 47 people licensed to instruct and the furthest away class is now in New Zealand!

When I saw the Ceilidh Challenge I knew we had to take part so I called up Neil at Live Active Rodney to talk him into opening up at 6am for us and luckily for me he said yes, and here we are!”

Gillian also teaches Highland Dancing, judges at competitions and as a Mum of two is bringing up the next generation of dancers.  As is the way when you speak with a person who is truly passionate about their life’s work, she reels you into her world of Pa De Bas and two steps as effortlessly as handing out lollipops to children. The turnout was fantastic, with Rodney’s studio packed out and the room buzzing with energy. I’d be willing to bet that the age group went from 4 to 74!

We were already whooping it up big time when Lorraine arrived with her friend Maxine and TV crew at 7am and os it was, that without any pomp or ceremony, the pair slotted into a circle of Dashing White Sergeants and joined in the party!

The mood in the room went from happy to ecstatic and our telly star took dance instruction from wee pre-school dancers, happily posed for photos with the class and cheered along with everyone as they danced their way to a 7.30am finish.  As Lorraine and Maxine left us to make their way to Edinburgh for the next stop, Gillian finished off with a cool down and a very, very happy group of early morning Highland Hustlers.

Gillian, Lorraine, Maxine and the Dancers raised a whopping £500, a good few heart rates and a roomful of spirits.  

If you’d like to donate to this great cause then click over to Lorraine Kelly's Just Giving Page here. 

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Read More About the STV Appeal and Lorraine Kelly's #KellysKaper on their website here.