End of the road for swimwear says former Grimsby woman now at helm of Miss England contest

                                    

Angie Beasley - once worked for Findus Foods

FORMER Grimsby beauty queen Angie Beasley, who now runs the annual Miss England contest, has confirmed that the swimwear round will be scrapped for this year's event.

She made the decision following a poll among prospective contestants.

Says Angie, formerly of Buller Street: "I know some will be disappointed, but we can’t please everyone.  

"It’s important that we opened up this debate to all as the contest is constantly evolving. 

"It is no longer a bathing beauty parade."

She continues: "The focus needs to be on other factors  such as the 'Beauty with a Purpose' round which recognises the ethos of the contestants themselves and raises funds for charities across the world."

The current Miss England is redhead Jessica Gagen (27) who studies aerospace engineering.  

Jessica’s project is actively inspiring  'Women in Science and Technology' and she regularly visits schools and colleges around the country to give talks to pupils.

Among contestants disappointed with the loss of the swimwear round is Eloise Sansini, from Shropshire who comments: "So disappointed - I enjoy wearing swimwear and I’ve worked hard for my body." 

"Now, if I make it through to the Miss England final, I shall be showcasing my voice as a singer."

Ms Beasley, who also lived for a while in Brereton Avenue, Cleethorpes, has carved out a career for herself as longstanding director of  Miss England.

During  the 1980s, when pageants were held at almost every major seaside resort in the country, she, herself was a regular contestant.

For one event at Skegness,  she arrived in the nick of time to register after whizzing down on the back of her boyfriend's motor cycle - with a crash helmet over her rollers!

Her description of the ride  seemed to amuse the judges,  and she won the first prize - £100.

But her catwalk debut, after finishing a day's work as a waitress at Dot's Place cafe in Riby Square, Grimsby,   came at the  old Winter Gardens on Cleethorpes seafront in 1979 when she was just 16.

Although a shy teenager from a sheltered background, she had an uncharacteristic and inexplicable impulse to take part in the local heat of a Miss YTV  beauty contest.

 She entered  even though it  meant parading in a tight-fitting swimsuit in front of  a large audience, some of whom m,ay have known her.

"I don't know what made me go in for it," she recalled later. "Looking back, it's a wonder I didn't do a runner, especially in the dressing room when it dawned  what I had let myself in for.

 "My legs were so wobbly with nerves, it was wonder I was even able to stand."

 Alas, but not unexpectedly, there was no fairy tale end to that particular day. Angie  did not win.

The other contestants - one of whom was  Della Dolan who went on to come third in the 1982 Miss World - were far more experienced.

 Bronzed and groomed, they knew how to present themselves to most glamorous effect to the judges.

Even so, there is no doubt that the occasion changed Angie's life, not least  because it gave her a huge shot of self-confidence, especially when she received many compliments from friends and family after a photograph of the 10 contestants appeared in her local newspaper paper, the Grimsby Evening Telegraph. 

Even her religiously-inclined mother, a Jehovah's Witness, was secretly quite proud.

The experience also opened Angie's  eyes to opportunity and led her on the  road - one down which she is still travelling - to success.

As a competitor, she notched up numerous wins at resorts all over the country, including that of Miss Lincolnshire, Miss Lovely Legs  and Miss Cleethorpes.

Her beauty, friendliness, intelligence and warm  personality brought spin-offs in the form of promotions and modelling work which opened the doors to extensive travel not just within the UK but also to Dubai and other exotic locations.

Not bad for a girl with no qualifications who had earlier  worked variously behind bars, as a waitress (including a spell at an Indian restaurant on Cleethorpe Road) and, alongside hundreds of other women, in a white overall and a hair net  as a quality control operative on a conveyor belt at Findus Foods.

As a teenager, Angie also used to enjoy performing  in Grimsby with an amateur  dance group  - her solo speciality being to sing her own  version of the Kate Bush hit, Wuthering Heights.

"None of us had any formal training - we just loved getting together and rehearsing," she says.

Although the popularity of beauty pageants had taken a dip over the past couple of decades, the Miss England competition continues to thrive.

Now living in a village outside  Leicester,  Angie can afford to look back with a kind of wry pride on here career.

 "When I was younger, I was so shy and lacking in self-confidence I never dared open my mouth.

 "The first time I got on the catwalk at the Winter Gardens, I hadn't a clue what I was doing, but it really didn't matter.

 "The main thing was to get out there and give it my best shot. I knew it was a chance to make things better, and I was determined to take it."

 "When I was younger, I was so shy and lacking in self-confidence I never dared open my mouth.

"The first time I got on the catwalk at the Winter Gardens, I hadn't a clue what I was doing, but it really didn't matter.

"The main thing was to get out there and give it my best shot. I knew it was a chance to make things better, and I was determined to take it."

                                              

Contestants in swimwear in  a pageant of the 1980s