Pole dancing, pink limousines and a gaggle of girlies - truly a hen night to remember. SARAH DALE talks to Jen Richardson to find out more about her thrilling hen night. "IT was amazing fun," says Jen Richardson, talking about her hen night. "We had the most fantastic time. We went to Leeds and had pole dancing lessons, pink limousines and cocktails." Jen, 43, and 11 of her family and pals, ranging in age from 21 to 60, went to Leeds for a fun-packed hen weekend. "I had always fancied having a go at pole dancing," says Jen, from Guisborough. "So I had a look on the internet and found Icecube, who deal with hen and stag weekends and pole dancing was one of the packages. It wasn't too expensive either, it cost us £100 each and that included the pole dancing lesson at a proper club, entry to a club, accommodation, champagne and pink limousines to take us there. "It was so well organised and everything ran like clockwork." Jen loved the pole dancing lesson though she was nursing a few bruises afterwards. "There were two girls who showed us how to pole dance," says Jen, who has a son, Anthony, 25, a daughter, Gemma, 22, and three grown-up stepchildren, Mark, Lee and Lindsey. "It's really difficult so I have a lot of admiration for them, you have to be really fit to do it. "I managed to get my legs higher than my head during the lesson which I was really pleased with at 43! "My daughter was there and my son's girlfriend and my stepdaughter, it was really good fun. "It was the best day. We just stayed the one night and it was non-stop but in a good way." They continued the dancing theme for their costumes. "I got dressed up as a saloon girl which is something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing a couple of years ago before I lost weight," says Jen, who lost two and a half stones and was so inspired by her new healthy eating plan that she has become a Slimming World consultant herself. She runs two classes in Acklam - one at the Acorn Centre on Tuesdays at 6pm and the other at The Coronation on Wednesdays at 7pm. "The hen night was just after Easter so the girls wore head boppers with yellow chicks on along with bright yellow T-shirts. "Mine said 'hen' and the others said things like 'sexy chick' and things like that." Jen's hen night was a month before her wedding to her partner of 16 years, Mike. They got married on May 19 at Judges Hotel in Kirklevington with 35 guests. "It was very intimate and lovely," says Jen. "My daughter Gemma was my chief bridesmaid while my stepdaughter Lindsey, niece Emily and friend Dawn were my other bridesmaids. "My son gave me away and my four-year-old nephew was the ring bearer." Mike proposed on a romantic weekend away in York the September before their wedding. * HAVE you had a fantastic hen night that you would like to tell us about? Perhaps you went somewhere or did something a little bit different? Write to Sarah Dale, Features Department, Evening Gazette, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3AZ or email: sarah.dale@eveninggazette.co.uk | 
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