Supporting Naomi House

Recently I met with Jill McDonagh from Naomi House for a coffee morning at Costa to discuss ways in which I could become involved and support our local, well loved charity. 

There are many ways in which someone can make a difference and help a charity, whether it be volunteering, fundraising, or donating. All of which I hope to do for Naomi House. 

Naomi House and Jacksplace are hospices that support families from seven counties in southern England – Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Surrey, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight. They offer a full palliative care service that includes respite, emergency and end of life care for life-limited and life-threatened children and young adults from birth and into their later years. 

Yesterday I spent my morning volunteering at the Naomi House charity shop in Chineham shopping centre, and intend on continuing to do so on a regular basis. 

I honestly didn't know what went in to running a charity shop and how busy one would be! There was never a quiet moment! I was amazed to see how many people there are that support local charity shops; donating and buying. 

Roles that were included whilst helping out was serving customers, sorting through donated items, pricing items, stocking shelves and rails, and ensuring gift aided items were taken note of. 

I had such a laugh throughout the day and genuinely enjoyed my time spent there. As the workers there are volunteers, they are there because they want to be there, because they want to help and give something back to the charity - I feel this made the atmosphere a lot nicer and pleasure to be around. Everyone had a smile on their faces, including the customers (who a few of them walked out with some absolute bargain buys!)...

Thank you for welcoming me, and I look forward to helping out again soon! 

Supporting the NHS

So today myself and a family friend and colleague Hannah, spent a lot of our day at Basingstoke Hospital volunteering our their services, providing free beauty treatments, to the staff as part of the NHS health & wellbeing at work event.

Health, work and wellbeing is a cross-government initiative to protect and improve the health and wellbeing of working age people. The initiative promotes the positive links between health and work and aims to help more people with health conditions to find and stay in employment. It brings together employers, trade unions, healthcare professionals and other partners and builds on a growing evidence base that working is good for health. 

Good health is good for business and a healthy workforce is a productive one. 

Hannah and I provided quick, easy but effective treatments such as manicures, eyebrow shaping and massages - all feel good treatments. We worked in 15 minute slots ensuring as many staff members were able to take full advantage of us being there. Time slots were prebooked by Meyrem (wellbeing manager); Needless to say, we were both fully booked! 

The event today was a success, and every staff member who visited us today left with a smile on their face! I look forward to providing the same again at the next health and wellbeing event later on this month. 

Thank you Meyrem for inviting me to take part in the event, and also thank you so much for your kind donation towards my bid to raise as much money possible for my chosen charity, Beauty with a Purpose, as a thank you for my services today. 

Crowning Day!

So it's been a whole month since Miss Hampshire; a whole month since I was awarded Charity Queen, a whole month since I came first runner up Miss Hampshire; a whole month since being titled Miss Basingstoke; and a whole month without my crown!

But finally, it is Crowning Day!

I was crowned at the Hampshire Court Hotel on Sunday 12th April 2015. The Mayor and Mayoress of Basingstoke was in attendance, along with the organiser of Miss & Mr Hampshire - Paula Langley, Miss Hampshire - Larissa Hirst, Mr Hampshire - Mark Young and his girlfriend Elisia, friends and family. We were kindly welcomed with a drinks reception at 15:00, and I was officially awarded the Miss Basingstoke title at 15:30.

The ceremony began with a lovely speech from Paula, followed by an encouraging speech from the Mayor, proudly sashed by Mr Hampshire, awarded my trophy by the Mayor, and last but not least, crowned by Miss Hampshire! Photographing these moments and memories was Paul Carroll.

Thank you to James, the hotel Manager, and the rest of the staff for looking after us and providing us with a lovely room and drinks reception for the ceremony to take place.

I look forward to using my title and crown to continue fund raising for local charities and Beauty with a Purpose, and have already begun to organise events with this aim.

To say I am the happiest girl in the world, would be an understatement. Being titled Miss Basingstoke really has been the highlight of my year, and I cannot wait to see what else I can be involved in throughout my reign. Thank you to everyone who came along to show their support, and thank you to everyone who has supported me in the lead up to this moment. Onwards and upwards for Miss England Semi-Finals in July!

Radio interview with The Breeze

So today I was lucky enough to be invited to have my first radio interview by The Breeze Basingstoke & North Hampshire! 

I must admit, I was a little nervous in the few hours leading up to this! Who wouldn't be?! All that kept going through my mind was "what if they asked me something I'm not able to answer?". 

But how I felt in the lead up, couldn't have been further from how I felt when the I was in the studio; I loved it! Just a simple introduction from myself, and that was it... 

The interview was only about 10 minutes long and consisted of questions regarding the Miss England competition. 

How I found out about the competition, the process I have been through, what is involved in a beauty pageant, what I have achieved, how I feel, what I am doing to prepare for Miss England; and the list goes on! 

When you have a passion for something, speaking about it becomes so natural.

Tune in to The Breeze on 107.6 FM radio tomorrow to hear what I have to say. 

Thank you to The Breeze for having me in the studio! It was a pleasure! 

http://www.thebreeze.com 

Supporting Miss Hertfordshire Finalist

Last night, Saturday 4th April, Miss Hertfordshire Finalist, Jasmine Orr hosted a charity black tie event at Que Pasa in Watford in her bid to raise as much money possible for Miss World Charity - Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP).

Support and appearances from other title holders at Jasmines' event saw current Miss Hertfordshire Charlotte White, Miss Hampshire Larissa Hirst, Mr Hampshire Mark Young, and myself Miss Basingstoke. It was lovely catching up with Miss and Mr Hampshire and their partners, having not seen each other since the final, as well as meeting new people. 

Jasmines' guests arrived to red carpet and champagne reception. There was a photographer (which I Loved!) who was capturing the memories from the evening. The raffle was made up of seventeen donated prizes by local businesses, of which I won four of - all cut and blowdries! 

The event finished at 1am when the bar closed, (much to our disappointment), so a few of us decided the night was still young and partied on to Oceana.

Well done Jas, you done amazing! Look forward to watching you in the Miss Hertforsdhire final on Sunday 26th April! 

Miss England Crown Charity Challenge no.1

The Miss England Crown Charity Challenge is something set up by current Miss England - Carina Tyrrell, to challenge us title holders within Miss England 2015 to raise money and awareness for various charities across the UK. Each month, a different challenge is set. 

For March, we were challenged to host a "simple supper" dinner, raising funds and awareness for Wintercomfort - a homeless shelter in Cambridge. 

(Carina helping out at Wintercomfort)

For my Simple Supper, using cheap, simple foods, I served up nachos and fajitas, followed by good old fashioned strawberries and icecream.

Not only did I help to raise funds and awareness for Wintercomfort, but had an amazing evening socialising with my closest friends and family. 

Thank you all for your support!

Overview of my first ever Pageant

So here's my first ever blog as Miss Basingstoke, and also my first blog ever!

I had known that I was taking part in the Miss Hampshire competition back in November 2014. Since then I don't think I have been able to stop talking about the competition, I was so happy and excited to have been accepted in taking part. 

The whole experience has been amazing, and a real eye opener. The competition is not how a lot of people imagine; it isn't just about looking pretty. There is so much more to it! Even more than I had expected! It is a lot of hard work, and requires dedication. A big part of the competition is charity. Raising money and awareness for all charities, but the main charity is Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP), which is at the heart of Miss World. This charity supports disadvantaged children globally, helping those less fortunate. 

I didn't feel nervous at all really, until about three days before the competition, when it became to feel more real; more like a competition. Beforehand, it was all just exciting, but never really felt like a competition; just like I was doing amazing things, working with the community and fundraising for BWAP.

I am amazed to say I was the winner of the Miss Beauty with a Purpose award. I was the only contestant to raise over £2,000; I had raised £2,481. I achieved this by hosting a Valentine's Day Black tie event at Sherfield Park Community Centre. Thank you to 'Absolute Entertainment', who supported me by donating their services for the evening - DJ, photo booth and photographer. 

All of the other girls and guys had done amazingly well. Together we raised just shy of £10,000. 

I was also winner of Miss Talent Queen - as I wowed former winner with my figure skating video (for this category, we all had to send in a video of us performing our talent, which was then judged). This is a big passion of mine. I skated for 5 years whilst at school, but unfortunately stopped when I went to college. About 7 months ago, I started skating again, and can honestly say I love it even more! 

I placed second in Miss Social Media (was in first place up until the night before!!!) - we had to see who could get the most amount of 'likes' on our Facebook photo. 

And also placed second in Miss Popularity - text voting. 

I was titled Miss Basingstoke and first place runner up of Miss Hampshire, whilst also awarded Charity Queen - both of which have seen me in to the Miss England Semi-finals on 5th July 2015. 

Semi-finals will take place at Kelham Hall, Nottingham. 

I am so excited to have earned my place in the Miss England semi-finals! I just need to continue to try my absolute hardest, as I did for the Miss Hampshire competition, and hopefully all of my hard work and determination will pay off and shine through on the evening. 

I am already searching for my perfect dress to wear in the semi-finals! (If there are any dress companies that would love to sponsor me in wearing a dress of theirs to the Miss England semi-final - please contact me haha!) 

The support I have had from family and friends has been amazing. I couldn't be any more grateful of this! 

The friends I have made in my journey, truly are friends that will probably last a lifetime! We have our own little Hampshire family!

As my year begins as Miss Basingstoke, I hope to represent my town and county in any way I can. I would also love to support and take part in as many local events and fundraisers as possible. - so if you know of any ways I can pursue this, please do let me know. 

I have just begun organising my next big fundraising event, so I would love for everyone to look out for this and support me in raising more money and awareness for BWAP. Hopefully I can see if I can keep my title as Charity Queen at the Miss England semi-finals! 

Lastly, thank you to Paula Cat (Miss Hampshire Organiser), for organising such a fantastic heat. 

And well done to Larissa Hirst and Mark Young on winning Miss & Mr Hampshire 2015! 

 Photos courtesy of David Freeman Photography -
WWW.DAVIDFREEMANPHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK