Guide dog helped me back to the dancefloor after accident
BBCWhen Alan Barnes lost his sight in a "freak accident", he thought his dancing days were over.
But with the help of guide dog Windsor, the 63-year-old has rediscovered his love for ceroc, a modern style of dance combining elements of ballroom and latin.
Alan, from Southwell in Nottinghamshire, had impaired vision since birth and lived most of his life with sight in only one eye.
But he lost his sight completely in an accident in 2021 and said he thought his life was "finished".
"I became very depressed and couldn't really see a way forward," he said.
Without his sight, Alan said he began to only feel safe in the four walls of his home and decided to reach out for support.
He said he initially struggled with cane training and was eventually paired with Windsor in 2024.
"I thought, 'What did I really miss, what can I do now that I really love?' And I thought about dancing," he said.
Two years on, having adjusted to a new way of learning the steps and regaining confidence, Alan is running a 'dance-a-thon' to raise money for the Guide Dogs charity.
When he was first asked by his wife to join her at Ceroc Heaven classes in Radcliffe-on-Trent in 2017, Alan was uninterested.
"I was - I wouldn't say bullied - but I was encouraged by my wife to go along to a lesson.
"Much to my shock and amazement, I absolutely loved it," he said.
But his life changed overnight during his oldest son's birthday in December 2021.
"I took a blow to my good eye in a freak accident and it resulted in me completely losing my sight," Alan said.
Before the accident, which Alan did not want to share in detail, he did not consider himself someone who liked to live in isolation.
He said: "At the time, you think your life's finished. It's such a change, it's such a traumatic situation, you think, 'How am I ever going to carry on?'."
In an attempt to help himself, he reached out to a number of organisations and started mobility and orientation training with a white cane.
However, he continued to struggle with low confidence.
"I would go out at about five o'clock in the morning so nobody else would see me with the white cane, inevitably get lost and struggled to find my way back," he said.
Alan persevered and later contacted the Guide Dogs charity before being shortlisted for a guide dog.
"I found my way back to Grange Hall [in Radcliffe-on-Trent, where the dance lessons were held] to see if I could dance again," he said.
The routines came back to Alan instinctively and with any new moves, the teachers gave him a physical demonstration ahead of lessons.
Alan said he was also positioned near the stage where lights were placed to help "anchor" him, using the light perception he retained when he lost his sight.
"I thought I might have balance issues but if anything, I've probably got better balance, I can do turns and spins now better than I used to be able to."
He added that he'd started wearing "amusing [slogan] t-shirts" to "break the ice" and let people know he was blind.
"Now that I've been coming here regularly, most of the dancers know me so the awkwardness is gone," he said.
On Sunday, Alan will be joined by his fellow dancers to raise money for the Guide Dogs charity.
"I was paired with Windsor in 2024 and I was totally amazed at the training that goes into these guide dogs," he said.
Windsor also replaced a family pet dog that had passed away two years earlier.
Alan said: "I'm a massive dog lover so having him as a companion and pet dog back in the house is fantastic.
"In terms of what he does for me it's additional confidence that you wouldn't believe that you could have.
"He's a real beacon for people wanting to interact with you as well.
"When you're walking along with a cane people tend to avoid you. When you're walking along with the dog people tend to want to stop and talk to you."
The Guide Dogs charity allows fundraisers to name puppies if they raise £2,500.
The Ceroc Heaven class is hoping to raise enough money to name at least two puppies by dancing for three hours straight - which would amount to about 53 songs.
Claire Robotham, a community fundraising manager at the charity, said it costs the charity £102,000 to raise, train and support a guide dog from birth to retirement.
"We do really rely on these donations to continue our life-changing work and to help make a difference to people living with sight loss.
"In 2025, we spent £75.4m to provide our services across the country."
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