She's usually down in Hertfordshire filming Strictly Come Dancing, but this week Shirley Ballas made a poignant visit to her hometown of Liverpool to visit children's hospital Alder Hey. The Queen of Latin dance was joined by her actor boyfriend Danny Taylor, who is also from the same city and is currently starring in Blood Brothers at the Liverpool Empire.
The couple, who started dating around Christmas time last year, met patients and families on the hospital's general paediatric ward before also visiting families on the High Dependency Unit. They bonded with youngsters including Shae, Kainaat, Perrie, Liam and Mollie and were pictured posing for sweet photographs.
Danny and Shirley visited children's hospital Alder Hey
John Armstrong, from Alder Hey Children's Charity, said: "We were delighted to welcome Shirley and Daniel to the hospital today to spend time with some of our amazing patients. Shirley is a long-standing supporter of Alder Hey Children's Charity and is always happy to visit our children and young people. We look forward to working closely with her as she continues to support the charity in the future."
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Alder Hey provides care for over 330,000 children and young people every year and is a national centre for neuro and craniofacial surgery, a regional centre for burns injuries and a Centre of Excellence for children with cancer, heart, spinal and brain disease. It is one of only four epilepsy surgical centres in the UK and one of only two accredited major trauma centres in the North West.
Shirley has long been a supporter of the hospital
Alder Hey is also a respiratory Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation surge centre and is the referral centre for the treatment of congenital heart defects in North West England, North Wales and Isle of Man. It became the first UK Centre of Excellence for Childhood Lupus in 2010.
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The Strictly judge has been visiting the children's hospital for years, but this latest trip will no doubt have been even more poignant as she was joined by her partner. Shirley, 58, and Danny, 47, met after starring in panto Jack and the Beanstalk together last year.
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