TIRELESS Lye dance instructor and charity fundraiser Karen Yates has handed over £4,500 to three worthy causes after another successful show.

The 49-year-old from Cemetery Road, who suffers from a partially paralysing condition called cauda equine syndrome, raised from the money from the proceeds of her Musical Showtime 3 show which she staged at Dormston Mill Theatre, Sedgley.

More than 100 pupils from the Karen Yates School of Dance took part in the musical extravaganza - held last July in aid of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation charity, Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham.

Karen said: "It was amazing; it was probably the best fundraiser I've ever had."

The money will be spit between the three causes which have all tugged at the heart-strings of Karen - an ex-professional dancer who turned to teaching after breaking her neck in a car crash in 1988.

She said the cash boost for the hospital charity has been earmarked to benefit breast cancer sufferers and the money raised for NICE will go to the charity's Red Boots initiative which helps youngsters with neurological movement problems.

The money was handed over to charity representatives at a barn dance on Saturday March 29 at St Saviour’s Church in Hagley.

Karen, who despite her disabilities still manages to run dance classes in Amblecote, Hagley, Lye and Colley Gate, has pulled in tens of thousands of pounds for charities over the years through her fundraising dance shows.

Now nearing 50 - she shows no signs of slowing down and is already planning her next show, a pantomime to be held in July 2016.

The next event, Cinderella, will be staged at Dormston Mill Theatre and will give a boost to Cystic Fibrosis sufferers and two other charities yet to be chosen.

Selfless Karen, however, credits her family and dance students for her making her fundraising shows so successful.

She added: "My family and people at dance are absolutely wonderful. Their help and support and dedication gets me through."