THE line dancing craze is sweeping the country but the Fylde could be the only place to have its own disabled line dancing team.

Bill McKegney decided to run his very special dancing classes after Lesley McFarlane, who has cerebral palsy, went along with her mother Agnes McFarlane to one of his classes held in Marton.

Lesley said: "I just went to see what line dancing was and when I got there all I wanted to do was join in."

Bill was then spurred on to form a disabled group at Whitegate Day Centre, Thursday afternoons, to let people, no matter what their disability, join in.

He said: "I know about wheelchair dancing, but not disabled line dancing, so the group is rather special.

"I first started dancing after going to the Winter Gardens Line Dance championship where they taught a new beginners' dance.

"I entered the competition and got through to the semi-finals, now I'm a student teacher at Calamity's on Preston New Road.

"I have my own clubs called Loose Boots at St Paul's on Preston Old Road and St Martin's United Reformed Church, Marton , but I want to make dancing available to everyone.

"When I first came up with the idea I took myself in to my kitchen for three hours to work out the dances.

"The routines are no different for disabled dancers and they're no slower, the only change will be if someone can't use their legs they will use their arms instead.

"The disabled dancers sit in their wheelchairs and have great fun, they all really enjoy it and my main aim is to eventually make it more available in more classes."

Lesley McFarlane said: "I knew I'd enjoy the dancing the minute I got there and now it's very important to me, I look forward to my classes every week."

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