Last summer, East Dulwich WI members Tina Hampson, Angela Burgess, Fiona Nott, Sarah Pylas, Pam Martin and our EDWI President, Anna Gryce, were invited to take part in the hit SKY 1 TV show, Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew.
If you are not familiar with the show, each episode follows a group of non-dancers as they secretly attempt to learn a street dance routine choreographed by 2009 Britain’s Got Talent winner Ashley Banjo and his street dance troupe Diversity.
Friends and family believed the ladies were filming a documentary about the history of the WI, and had no idea that they would actually be surprising them with a street dance routine at a WI Charity Cake Bake Competition just 3-weeks later.
“The hardest part was keeping the show a secret from our members” said Anna. “We wanted a great turn-out for the event but didn’t want to spoil the surprise, so had to hope our cakes alone were good reason enough for people to come!”
The Cake Bake competition was a huge success, with members entering cakes in 5 categories – Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Brownies, Lemon Drizzle, Freestyle and Under 16s.
All categories were judged on appearance, texture and taste by our secret street dancing panel of judges, with prizes going to the winning cakes.
However, the real stars of the show, were the 6 ladies who performed their jaw dropping routine to the unsuspecting crowd.
“It was an amazing journey, exhausting and exciting. The finale day was something I dared not think about and then we were there. Exciting to be in costume and an amazing experience and we did it!” said Pam.
Angela added “After all the hard work it felt great to get to the finale. Then the nerves kicked in and I felt sick that it was actually happening. It was great to see lots of friendly faces and then it was over. And I wanted to do it all again!”
The episode of Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew featuring The East Dulwich WI airs on Sky 1 HD, Sunday 5th October, at 6pm.