Great night of glitz and glam at Co Down Strictly Young Farmers

Colin McKnight and his partner Emma Thompson pictured with sponsors McCulla Transport and Silverwood Landscapes.

Spa couple Nicola Edgar and Jonathan Gill stole the show with their performance at 'Strictly Young Farmers' a charity dancing competition run by Co Down Young Farmers.

The pair, who are in their twenties, beat off competition from eleven other couples from across the county. Each of the couples took part in an intensive series of dance classes run by TV and stage-show choreographer Shane Berger.

Along the way the couples also set about raising funds for Rural Support, a charity which provides a listening and signposting service for farming and rural families in Northern Ireland.

Shane who has worked on “Dancing Stars,” the Austrian version of Strictly Come Dancing made the impossible become possible for the couples and the farmers who were more used to towing trailers than putting toes on a dance floor were soon ballroom dancing.

The group performed in front of a sold out venue on Saturday night. Over 800 tickets were sold for the ballroom at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.

But it wasn’t just the couples who were put through their paces; judges Jude McCann Rural Support CEO, last year’s winner Geoff Thompson and Judith Gill from First Trust Bank and David Dunlop of A.I. Services who sponsored the event had their work cut out as they marked the couples out of ten for their performances.

The public also got their say in who would lift the top prize with a pound donation in each of the couples’ buckets equalling a vote.

The couples would like to thank their sponsors, hair and make-up professionals and friends and family who supported them through the competition, as well as the competition’s anchor sponsor First Trust.