Penny's heart is in her dancing (From Bournemouth Echo)

Penny's heart is in her dancing

3:04pm Wednesday 21st July 2010 in

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IT’S barely three weeks since she had pioneering life-saving cardiac treatment, but Penny Brion is already back dancing the light fantastic.

The fleet-footed octogenarian took to the dance floor with ballroom world champion Warren Boyce at his Nice ’n Easy studio in Boscombe last week.

Penny is planning to team up with Warren for a fundraising dance show later this year in aid of the cardiac unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where she underwent a radical new procedure to unblock three arteries in her heart.

“My doctor says that if it wasn’t for my dancing I wouldn’t have survived because it keeps me fit,” she explains.

The glamorous grandmother, who has survived a heart attack and two strokes, credits her friend the late Dorothy Huntley-Flint (who also happens to be Richard Branson’s grandmother) for introducing her to ballroom.

For many years Penny helped to entertain audiences at local dance shows. UK champion Warren described Penny as “a true inspiration to all our young dancers”.

Penny’s story, featured in the Echo earlier this year, is to be featured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.