Seeker Photography were lucky enough on a warm July evening to be snapping the pictures when the world sandcastle building record was broken in the sand polo arena on Sandbanks beach.

It was all part of a great cause to raise funds for the Lewis Manning Hospice.

Eighty entrants had an hour to break the previous record of 520 sandcastles. And that particular record went tumbling as our intrepid bucket and spaders built 539!

Reham Khan from BBC South Today adding to the sandcastle world record

Even a brief down pour was not allowed to spoil things. In fact the dampened sand made things a lot easier for our sandcastle builders’ record breaking endeavours.

It proved to be a great day for Dorset sandcastle builders, a great day for Lewis Manning Hospice and we give them all our heartfelt congratulations!

More photos online here.

Read more about this on Seeker News.

They will now be able to use these images as part of their presentation in the regional finals in Torquay later this month.

Local business representatives were invited to partner up with professional ballroom dancers and enjoy a gala dinner followed by one heat of fancy footwork.

Steve Cook of Seeker Photography joined Richard Cossey of Humphries Kirk, Emily Johnson of Morris Lane Accountants, Sue Langley of Marketing Solutions, Andy Lear of HSBC, Karen Rickman of Parcelhub and Jo West of Team Recruitment who were the superstars of the evening as they took the challenge.

With sparkles and dance moves the audience were hooked cheering and clapping as each couple graced the floor.  With only a few hours practice the contestants were judged by a panel marking on performance and technique.

Seeker Photography’s Steve Cook showed grace and style with the famous Paso Doble dance guided by professional, Olesia.  With a tricky technique, Steve did so well and the crowd erupted with applause as the music came to an end.  Each judge gave a high score of 10-9-9-9, a total of 37/40 but Steve was beaten into second place by the last performance of the jive by Andy Lear of HSBC.

The whole event was organised in just five weeks and raised £6,000 for the cause.  Such a fantastic concept that aims to be a yearly occasion.

If you’d like to sponsor Steve, please visit his JustGiving page.

On May 12th, I, along with seven other local business people will be competing in a Strictly Come Dancing event for the Wessex Cancer Trust.

Teamed up with (hopefully) very patient pro dancers we will be tripping the light fantastic to raise money to support this local charity.

The Wessex Cancer Trust is an independent charity which has raised approximately £17million to help support and improve cancer services in the Wessex region. Established in 1981, this unique Trust supports many aspects of cancer care, including leading edge research, the improvement of patient facilities, purchase of much needed equipment, patient grants, complementary therapy and counselling services.

My only previous connections to dancing were photographing the wedding of Strictly winner Karen Hardy on the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini and capturing various performances over the years – but definitely only from BEHIND the camera!

Gary Rhodes lends his support to Steve Cook of Seeker Photography

Whilst photographing former Strictly contestant Gary Rhodes this week, he told me how he’d always wanted to learn how to dance properly and how he fancied taking it up as a hobby when he retired.

Gary wished me luck with the event but didn’t pass on any killer moves to boost my chances.

I’ll keep you updated on my training progress but in the meantime please visit our JustGiving page and sponsor me, having lost family and friends to Cancer recently I know how important the cause is – thanks!

Accompanied by Atlas from Gladiators, the Mayor and Mayoress of Poole, the cast of the Lighthouse’s Panto, 2 marching bands, dancers, etc old St Nick made his way up the High St before taking up residence in his Grotto in the Dolphin Centre.

The photos are displayed in a giant montage in Poole’s Lighthouse which was unveiled by the Mayor of Poole at midday on the 23rd September 2009.

502 people made a minimum donation of £2 to the Poole Hospital Wish List with a grand total of £1185.10 and the images are now online on our 500 Faces gallery for free download. Prints and other products are also be available to order through the site.

Thanks to everyone who took part in our unique community art project to help Poole Hospital Wish List!

From Kim Hawkings at Poole Hospital Wish List:

“Seeker Photography was recommended to the Wish List in April 09 to do the photography for our charity abseil. We had a great time working with both Steve and Dawn and everyone was really impressed with the quality of their photos! A couple months later Steve approached The Wish List with a fantastic fundraising idea ‘500 Faces of Poole’. The challenge was to photograph 500 people in the Dolphin Shopping Centre, raise money for Poole Hospital while engaging local people in a community art project. All 500 photos will be arranged in a giant montage which will be displayed in the Lighthouse, Poole. Not only has Steve helped us raise over £1000 for our Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, he has helped us raise awareness of Poole Hospital’s charity The Wish List!

On behalf of the Fundraising Team and Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at Poole Hospital we would like to say a massive thank you to Steve and Dawn for all their support!!”