DANCERS who have raised £40,000 for charity over 20 years have been praised.

The Dunbar School of Dance puts on annual dancing extravaganzas in aid of the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC).

This year’s performance at The Brunton in Musselburgh featured nearly 200 children, aged between three and 17.

Dancers collected more than £2,000 and impressed the audience with a variety of dances.

The dance school, which meets at Hallhill Sports Centre, has regularly raised funds for the Capital hospital and its success caught the eye of East Lothian MP Kenny MacAskill and South Scotland MSP Craig Hoy.

Both politicians submitted motions at Holyrood highlighting the success of the dancers.

Mr MacAskill, of ALBA, submitted a motion which read: “That this House congratulates young dancers at the Dunbar School of Dance on hitting a fundraising milestone of £40,000, after lighting up the stage for the last two decades and raising money for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity in the process; understands that a show on January 15, 2022, saw the school raise £2,038 which the ECHC will put towards CAMHS, pushing them to the £40,000 milestone; commends founder of the school, Julie Friar, on the fundraising efforts over the last 20 years; and wishes Julie and all of the dancers the very best of luck with future fundraising efforts.”

Meanwhile, Conservative politician Mr Hoy, who is also a councillor for the Haddington and Lammermuir ward, submitted a motion backed by fellow South Scotland MSP Martin Whitfield (Labour).

Mr Hoy’s motion reads: “That the Parliament congratulates the dancers at the Dunbar School of Dance on reaching the £40,000 fundraising milestone on the school’s 20th anniversary; notes that, on January 15, 2022, dancers took to the floor at The Brunton in Musselburgh for three shows and raised £2,038, which took the total amount collected for the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity to over £40,000; understands that, traditionally, more than 200 dancers would perform at Dunbar Grammar School over three days; however, Covid-19 restrictions meant that this was not possible, and further understands that, instead, the group, which is based at Hallhill Sports Centre, travelled west to Musselburgh to perform on the big stage, and performed a variety of dances in ballet, jazz, commercial, hip hop, contemporary and lyrical.”