POLE dancers held a marathon twirling session to help colleagues injured during their work.

Saturday’s 12-hour event at Baby Love Bar, King Edward Street, Oxford, was in aid of the Pole Sports Benevolent Fund.

Organiser Kate Whitley, who set up the fund and runs pole school Dance Inspires, said: “The event’s been really full of fun.

“We have been having people walking in, friends and family of the dancers.”

Themes were held throughout the day as the 20 dancers swung their way through 240, three-minute routines with Disney, rock and musicals among the inspirations for their costumes.

The sponsored event is thought to have raised £300 to £400.

Ms Whitley, 46, of Barton, said: “We have made sure everybody gets a break but by the end I think we were all in need of a stiff drink.”

Grace Exley, 31, from Grandpoint, swung around the pole hundreds of times.

She said: “It was a lot of fun but absolutely exhausting.

“From my personal point of view, it was a costumeathon as well as a poleathon because I brought a large series of wigs, costumes and make up and did lightning changes between routines to fit the different themes.”