IT took great stamina and determination for two women to dance for 24 hours in Oxford city centre but they kept going for a good cause.

Brooke Milner, 21, and Saba Kiani, 33, put on their best moves inside and outside the Debenham’s store to raise awareness and collect funds for the Oxjam Oxford Takeover, the city’s event for the Oxjam music festival.

Organised by Oxfam, it is made up of hundreds of music happenings across the UK in October. Oxjam has enabled Oxfam to raise more than £2.5 million since the first festival in 2006.

Ms Milner, who volunteers as the production coordinator for the takeover, said: “We were just thinking about something as crazy as possible that would get the most amount of attention. Neither of us are dancers or do any kind of sports. We thought it was something mad enough to get a lot of response.”

Ms Milner and Ms Kiani, the takeover manager, danced from 10am on Saturday, October 3, to 10am on Sunday, October 4, to raise £1,517.84 and are still receiving donations.

This includes a contribution by Barclays bank, which pledged to double the amount collected.

Ms Milner added. “It was pretty intense. The first 12 hours went really well, really fast. Later on, it got really hard because there was no one around, but the evening was great. We had lots of support and lots of people coming to dance with us.

“At the beginning we had a little break, but halfway through it got more difficult to stop and start again, so we just kept going.”

Tenika Blake, marketing and fundraising assistant for the event, didn’t dance but stayed with the two volunteers and brought them food.

Ms Milner said: “We actually weren’t that hungry, which was surprising. We felt physically very tired, but not so much mentally.

“We thought feeling sleepy was going to be a big issue but it was mainly the knees. They really hurt from bobbing up and down.”

They used leg wraps, which keep circulation flowing in the legs, to minimise the pain.

People requested songs ahead of the session through social media. Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk, Madonna, Destiny’s Child and Missy Elliott were all popular choices.

Ms Milner said: “We had a Disney hour with kids coming up to dance.

“We had a modern music hour and a nineties hour. At about 4am, three Army guys from the local base near Bicester and Arncott came in.

“They had missed the last bus home and stayed with us from three to seven.”

The Oxjam Oxford Takeover will take place on Saturday from 2pm across seven venues. The line-up includes performers Family Machine, Duotone, Orange Vision, Death of Hi Fi and Loud Mountains.

To donate, text OXJM55 followed by £2, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Visit oxjamoxford.co.uk