There could be murder on the dancefloor if Dawn Owen and James Osborne don't find themselves reaching the top of the Strictly Worcestershire leader board this year.

Business entrepreneur Dawn's competitive streak has been showing itself since she was five years old - when she literally pushed a budding Dorothy off stage in a bid to land the lead part in a production of the Wizard of Oz.

It's that steely Black Country-born determination that the pair hope will help them beat the competition quicker than James can click his sparkly dancing shoes and say 'there's no place like home'.

Dawn's no Wicked Witch of the West though. The real reason for taking part in the competition is to raise money for two charities that are close to her heart after losing her mum to breast cancer. She roped James into the contest only weeks after they met at a networking event. They have been honing their dance skills ever since.

The pair are well known in Worcestershire. Dawn runs successful car repair specialist BodyKraft whilst James, an active member of the county’s business community, is a Worcester-based family and matrimonial lawyer at Harrison Clark Rickerbys.

He's no shrinking violet, but admits dancing his not is forte save for a comical group performance in that well known reality show ‘Birmingham Law Society's Got Talent’. He was robbed, he believes, losing out to act ‘The Neales’ who went on to appear on the show’s better-known big brother, starring a certain Simon Cowell.

James is more at home enjoying football and golf, but is hoping he'll be emulating the ballroom success of Robbie Savage rather than Tony Jacklin. Dawn's dancing history meanwhile has largely been recorded in the nightclubs of the West Midlands, so appearing in front of a crowd of 700 is a somewhat sobering thought – along with her fears of being dropped by James.

And pushing their fears of injury and humiliation aside, what's really important to the pair is raising as much money as possible for the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign and Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer. James witnessed first-hand the life-changing work of medical experts when they treated a family member with the disease. And for Dawn, this is the perfect way to give something back to cancer-related charities that have helped her so much in the years after losing her beloved mum. It's all in memory of her mum.

Both being honest, it actually doesn’t matter to James and Dawn if they come top, middle or bottom of the leaderboard in May – it’s really just about taking part in such a fantastic event alongside the other amazing couples and raising as must as possible for two great charities.