DANCING zombies will take over a sports centre later this month as part of an international world record attempt.

Hundreds of people in the region are preparing to take part in Thrill the World, an annual global event where as many people as possible simultaneously perform the late Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance routine.

Although 600 people have already signed up to the Darlington event, which will raise money for Cancer Research UK, organiser Craig Buckley is hoping to get a total of 1,000 to take part.

The 25-year-old father of two, from Middleton St George, is staging the fundraising night at the Dolphin Centre, Darlington on Sunday.

The event is one of 16 taking place at the same time across the UK, and one of more than 400 events in 50 countries.

To coincide with the international events, the Darlington event will be held at 1.30am. It will begin at 10pm on Saturday.

Mr Buckley said: “I have always been a huge Michael Jackson fan and absolutely love the Thriller video.

“I was surfing the internet one day when I came across an event called Thrill the World. The organisers were encouraging people to arrange events in their local community with the aim of achieving a world record of the most people at any one time around the world performing the Thriller dance. So I thought, why not arrange one in Darlington?

“It started out as a bit of fun, but before I knew it, I had a few hundred people signed up. We now have more than 600 people taking part and are hoping to have 1,000 people there on the night.”

To help participants master the dance routine, Mr Buckley is arranging a series of workshops.

The first was held on Saturday, in Pease Place, Darlington, where there will be further workshops, on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

For further information, or to sign up for the Darlington Thrill the World event, visit myspace.com/ttw09darlington or call Craig Buckley on 07590-058741.

Registration forms are also available from the Dolphin Centre, in the Market Place, Darlington.