Students comments - Extracts taken from Champneys,Tring guest book

7/7/2006 Cherie Blair -

Katherine Blair- …What an experience! I may just come back for more

…I was sceptical to start with but I had great fun. Do you do any private classes?

16/3/2006 Willie Thorne Can't believe how unfit I am. Come back Dennis Taylor!

23/3/2006 Ruth Landsman Good fun+ excellent exercise- fantastic teacher

12/10/2007 Joan Shine Fab, can't believe I could dance after one hour, Thanks x

4/10/2007 Emma Bela Great fun and had great laugh to. Thank you

Daily Mail article plus references from the past  "Last tango for Cherie” by Richard Kay, Daily Mail 2006

………………………Last updated at 09:49 06 September 2006

Tony Blair's absurdly vainglorious exit strategy from No. 10 will see him paraded on popular TV shows such as Blue Peter and Songs Of Praise.

But if Cherie Blair has any input, then another programme from the light entertainment schedules might be included: Strictly Come Dancing. For I can reveal that the Prime Minister's wife has been preparing for the cha-cha-cha-changes of her own post-Downing Street life... with salsa lessons. Mrs Blair's dancing class was at Champneys, the exclusive health spa in Tring, Hertfordshire. She and her daughter Kathryn, 18, spent nine days at the 170-acre resort, sharing a &pound200-a-night 'superior room' before the family embarked on their recent Caribbean holiday. I understand she signed up to the "Champneys balance diet for weight loss", engaged a personal trainer and took daily pilates classes.

But, according to fellow guests, the highlight of her stay was her participation in a salsa-dancing class. "She seemed to love it and was very enthusiastic about it," says one. "Perhaps it's all going to be a big surprise for Tony when he leaves office. She seemed to enjoy her stay - she dined in the public restaurants all the time and she certainly didn't seem to mind who saw her." The dancing classes were held in the evenings and Mrs Blair was one of 30 guests who received instruction from teacher Richard Putko. He taught Cherie salsa, merengue and Argentine tango during the course of her stay.

An expert in lambada and tango, Putko, who learned his craft in the Dominican Republic and in Buenos Aires, has himself been taught by the leading Latin American dance teachers. "You can go to these places and let yourself be pampered, but Mrs Blair was keen to keep active," I am told.

Friends believe it was her stay at the resort - which has just undergone a &pound15 million refit - that encouraged Cherie not to cover up during her Caribbean jaunt.