A DANCE teacher from Farnham has won a community champion award for helping to bring people together and keep spirits high during the pandemic.

Emma Brewer, who runs First Dance Studio in Woking, was nominated for the Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists We See You Community Champion Awards by one of her dancers.

She was praised for bringing people together with a virtual and interactive ‘A to Z’ creative challenge, encouraging participants each week to turn their hand to a creative task representing each letter of the alphabet.

During weekly online video calls, participants shared their work, and Emma judged more than 1,600 submissions.

Emma said: “I knew I needed to do something to create a sense of community and purpose.

“The ‘A to Z’ creative challenge ended up being such a fun and joyous creative experience for us all.

“Each week I was completely taken aback by the number and quality of entries we received.

“Whether the contributions were touching or funny, it was such a pleasure to review and share them each week with the other participants.

“I know through my dance studio how important community and creativity is for people’s mental health and well-being.”