CityLife

How Gloria's heart learned to dance again...

LAST Christmas Gloria Hunniford thought she would never be able to enjoy life again. Consumed by grief for her beloved daughter Caron Keating, who had died earlier in the year, she wanted to lock herself away and forget about the whole thing.

So distraught was she at the loss of her only girl that she couldn't even face signing a single card or putting up the tree.

Twelve months on, the bubbly TV presenter is able to smile once more as she looks forward to festivities with the family - and, she says, she has Strictly Come Dancing to thank for helping to put the joy back in her life.

One of the early favourites of the hit primetime series, the ever-glamorous Gloria and her dancing partner Darren Bennett were voted off after just a few weeks. But, she says with a twinkle in her eye, she was there long enough to learn how to laugh again.

Dancer

"I knew I wasn't going to stay for the whole series - I just didn't want to go out on the first night," she confides. "I've never been a dancer so I think I went into it naively in a way.

"I just couldn't find anyone in my family who would tell me not to do it - they all said it would be good for me. And that made sense, after the awful time we have had in the last few years it seemed like the right time to do something for joy and for fun.

"And you know, it was great. I truly enjoyed it, it was very liberating and joyful. I have been watching it avidly since I came out and I can't believe I ever walked down those steps on to that dancefloor."

There is no doubt that Gloria seems to be blooming since her time on the show, with a natural radiance and youthful style that belies her 65 years. In fact, she confides, she lost 13lb with all the strenuous kicking, whirling, and waltzing and loved it so much she is considering taking up Latin dancing with her husband, Stephen.

Chat show

Her enthusiasm is contagious and it is easy to see, with her warm and friendly manner, how she has carved out such a long and successful chat show career.

Settling down to natter over a cup of tea at Salford's five-star Lowry Hotel she is completely without showbiz airs and graces and talks 10 to the dozen about her busy schedule.

But, behind the upbeat chatter, there is still a sense of deep sadness when she discusses Caron, who died last year, aged 41, after a seven-year struggle against breast cancer.

Gloria has made a conscious effort recently to throw herself back into work and occupy her time but, she says, life will never be the same again.

"I have worked since I was just eight years old, when I became a semi-professional singer. It might not be therapy for everyone, but it is for me. When the chips are down, work has been the saviour through all the bad times in my life - divorce, parents dying, or being ill.

"I think it gives you focus, something to get up for and a reason to get the old slap on.

"After Caron died, there were three months when I was stupefied but then I put myself back to work. It was good because it sharpened me up again and gave me a focus when I thought all focus had gone.

"They asked me to do This Morning and that was the perfect show to go back on TV with because it was something both Caron and I had an association with. I know the team and it felt very natural.

Fern and Phil interviewed me the Friday before and we all wept because they knew her as well. But that meant that I could start afresh the next week.

"The easy thing would be to stay at home and weep, but I prefer to fill my life with things. When I lost Caron I lost myself as well for a while. When something like that happens to you everything seems out of order, it's the wrong sequence of events in life to lose a child and you lose the person you thought you were."

Worthy causes

As well as returning to work, Gloria has set up the Caron Keating Foundation to raise money for worthy causes across the country and insists on opening the thousands of letters she receives personally. Already, several hospital wards have been opened across the country in her daughter's name. But she says the most healing experience has been writing her new book.

Next To You: Caron's Courage Remembered by Her Mother is an inspiring account of how the whole family coped with living under the shadow of cancer.

Gloria is keen to show Caron's bravery in facing the disease - she moved her family to Australia in a bid to find a complementary cure that would save her life.

But as well as her own words, Gloria also included extracts from Caron's diaries to give readers a sense of her daughter's strength of character. It is clear as she talks about it, ahead of a book signing in Manchester, that it has been an emotional journey. "Reading Caron's own notebooks was very hard," she remembers.

"I transcribed those in the middle of the night because it was very emotional just to see her handwriting. But I knew I wanted to write the story for Caron's boys so when I'm not around they will know how hard she fought to be with them.

"I have been really surprised by the success of the book but I think it has touched people on many levels."

Grandmother

A devoted grandmother, Gloria spends as much time as she can with Caron's sons - Charlie, 10, and Gabriel, eight - as she says they help to keep her positive.

Last weekend she took them to see the new Harry Potter film, although usually they go bowling together. She also keeps in touch with Caron's husband Russ, who found love again after Caron's death with former TV weathergirl Sally Meen.

Clearly her family have been a great support to each other, and she is looking forward to spending time with them soon.

"Christmas last year was horrendous," she says. "But I did it for Caron and the boys. This year we are having an early Christmas celebration when they come to see the final of Strictly Come Dancing.

"I love being with them because it takes your mind off things, they are so joyful by nature. Nothing stops the sense of loss or tragedy but it helps to keep you sane. Caron loved Christmas and so, for her, we will be trying to make it bigger and better."

Next To You: Caron's Courage Remembered by Her Mother is published by Penguin. For more information about the Caron Keating Foundation visit www.caronkeating.org.