Olympian and Strictly judge to headline Aylesbury WhizzFizzFest

Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Darcey Bussell and one of the stars of ‘Super Saturday’ at the London 2012 Olympics Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill have been announced as the headline names at the event on Saturday June 30.

Dame Darcey will be overseeing a dance competition featuring students from local schools, as they replicate some of the dances in her newly-released fitness videos.

Meanwhile, Dame Jessica will be hosting a question and answer session as well as speaking about her new series of children’s books: Evie’s Magic Bracelet.

This year’s event is themed around ‘Magic and Mystery’ and begins with a parade involving hundreds of local schoolchildren from across the Vale.

As part of the parade, youngsters are encouraged to produce artwork that is themed around their favourite children’s books.

Dame Darcey will warm up the audience with her dancers before judging the five school teams that reach the final.

Each team in the final will be introduced by Darcey and the winning team will perform once again to close the show.

Darcey said: “I’m delighted to be taking part in this year’s Aylesbury WhizzFizzFest and cannot wait to see my dance fitness routines performed on festival day by local school children.

“The very best of luck to you all - it’s going to be a lot of fun!”

Both Dame Darcey and Dame Jessica will be available to sign copies of their latest books later in the day at Waterstones bookshop.

Tickets go on sale on March 1 and can be obtained online by visiting www.whizzfizzfest.org.uk where you can also find out more details about what is planned at this year’s celebration of literature.