Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

There’s a great evening of dancing and fundraising at our Brentwood Centre home this Saturday, 9 March – and we’ve been featuring some of the couples taking part on air.

Strictly Air Ambulance returns for its 12th year. The evening promises to be a dazzling showcase of talent, all in support of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.

This year, the charity’s celebrity ambassador Lisa Snowdon will be joining ITV’s David Whiteley to host the event, and judges include Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

As well as talking about the event in general, we’ve been featuring some of the five couples taking part.

Michelle Ward featured Steve Drew and Katie Harrison on her morning show Eat My Brunch last week. Steve is a former volunteer blood biker who has helped to deliver blood products to Essex & Herts Air Ambulance airbase to treat patients. Katie has been dancing in the open circuit since she was 12 with a number of awards in Latin and ballroom dancing.

And today (Wednesday 6 March) you can tune to Michelle’s show to hear another couple talk about their experiences in the competition.

Richard Willis is well known in Billericay business circles as co-founder of Attract & Engage, a marketing agency he has been running for 15 years with his wife, Jill, who is also host of the Made In Essex podcast that we have been featuring on air.

He will be partnered by Jody De’Ath who competes in Ballroom and Latin competitions around the country.

It’s not too late to get tickets for this highly worthwhile event – you can find out more at ehaat.org/strictly and also hear the interviews again at phoenixfm.com.