Meet Miss England 2010. Yes, Miss England 2010.
Because horsey girl, Charlotte Packham, has decided to have another
go at winning the title, the most prestigious beauty pagent
in the country.
This time, however, she is determined to win.
She also wants to run her own heat, Miss Equestrian
“I will be entering again for the 2010 competition,” she says. “I
had such a great time. I met loads of fantastic people. It was so lovely for
me to be a girl for a change instead of being in jeans and ariat boots. Walking
down that catwalk was such a great experience for me.
“Since the car accident I was in a few years ago, I have
been unable to ride, and although I am the one who looks after
the horses and keeps them looking tidy etc, it's always my partner,
Ben's show as he is the rider. So it was really nice to have
a few days where I was in the limelight.”
But she doesn’t just want to be in the lime-light herself.
She wants to share it with other horsey girls.
“In my opinion, horsey girls should enter the competition,” she
says. “To prove to the general public that we can scrub
up OK and that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I had the
most amazing time at the semi - final and at the final. I met
some amazing girls. Obviously there were some who thought that
they deserved the title more than others, but you get that in
all walks of life I think.”
How did Charlotte get involved in the Miss England competition?
“ I entered through a website that e-mails me with modelling jobs every
day. I never thought another thing about it as in the modelling industry for
every 20 jobs you apply for, you may only get one or two. I then had a phone
call from the Miss England office and was asked to go to the Fresh Academy
in Watford for a photo-shoot.
“There were maybe 35 or so girls in my heat and we had to gain as many
text votes as possible to be in the top 10 of our group. I luckily made it
in to the top 10. From there, all 10 girls were reviewed by the judges and
a winner was chosen, or in my case two winners were chosen. I was picked alongside
the nicest girl I have come across for a long time.
“From there I went to the semi-final, held at Champneys
Springs. We had a day of press calls and interviews etc followed
by a parade in our eco wear in front of the judges, including
the lovely Chris Fountain from Hollyoaks. We were asked
to wear something re-cycled / borrowed etc. I found this fantastic
designer in London who made dresses from parachutes used in the
1950's. She very kindly made my dress to order and it went down
really well. One of the judges was the founder of an ethical
fashion website so she had seen the designers parachute before.
They loved it so much in fact that one of the judges ordered
one to wear on the evening of the final!
“I was then one of 10 picked from 60 to make it to the
finals and join the 51 other girls who had made it through from
various heats.
“The final was held in July at the Hilton Metropole in
London. It was over two days and was packed with fast track competitions
into the final 15. We had a huge amount of time taken up
with press calls and interviews. We also had some really fantastic
catwalk training from one of the Miss England team, Lisa.
She was really lovely and very patient with us. For me, walking
on a wobbly stage in high heels is not something I do very often.
“The first evening we had to wear another eco outfit,
this time based on the 70's. I fortunately was able to borrow
a dress from a friend. We also had to send in a two-minute
talent DVD which was watched that night.
“The following day we had a real early start to get into
our student fashion wear, a dress designed and made by a student
from a fashion university. For all of the other girls this was
a fairly straight forward procedure. But not for me. I had not
been able to meet my student beforehand as I had one who was
on holiday before the final. In the end she turned up at 6am
in my hotel room with a piece of material that looked like, as
many said ' Tinkerbelle gone wrong! ' Anyway, it was thankfully
finished and pinned on to me by 8 o'clock for the BBC news to
film us live. We then had a jam packed day full of rehearsals
until around 5pm when we were to get ready for the show.
“The evening started with us being introduced by the presenters.
We then walked down the catwalk, one at a time in our evening
wear with our details being read out loud. We then had
to wear the awful fashion-student dresses again. This time
walking to the song Poker face! There were then other things
to follow such as Mr England being crowned and singers etc.
“The final 15 were then called onto the stage for one
last walk and then the winner was crowned.. I did not make it
into the final 15 but this has not put me off. I met such lovely
people and had such a great time I will definitely be entering
again this year.”
In the meantime, Charlotte has plenty on her hands.
She is still Miss East Sussex until May / June 2010 and
has a busy programme of events to visit.
She has been talking to the Miss England organisers about running
her own heat next year.
“I would like for it to be ' Miss Equestrian ', she says. “I
would hold an evening where the top 50 entrants have to do a
catwalk type thing wearing a number of outfits etc. They would
also have to raise as much money for charity as possible. I would
also like to be able to have a wildcard to get one of the
girls to the final of my heat by maybe having a show jumping
class or something like that...I am in discussions with the Miss
England team at present so nothing is final but I would certainly
like to think that it could happen if I had enough participants.”
And, of course, she is still busy looking after the horses.
“My partner, Ben Dalton, is a professional show jumper,” she says. “We work
mainly from his family owned stud in Ashford, Kent breeding and producing quality
sports horses. We have a variety of top show jumping bloodlines in our breeding
stallions including a 17.2h coloured who is directly by the famous ' Darco
'. We also have a 16.2 jet black stallion with 4 white legs who promises to
pass on his beautiful temperament and movement alongside his great looks by
Edison / Jasper / Ramiro Z.
“New to the stud is a very promising stallion Cassio, We are looking
forward to what the future holds for him and his young stock. He has only been
out to two local shows with us so far and has already managed to jump three double
clears with a place in each class. He is a 16.3h bright bay by Calvados out
of a Quidam de Ravel mare.
After looking through his breeding lines, we were
very excited to see that he has a very, very similar family to
that of Laura Renwick’s top class mare Limelight de Breve. His first crop of foals
are due within the next couple of weeks, which we are very excited about.
“We also offer for sale a wide range of youngsters ranging from
foals to eight, nine or sometimes even older horses. If we haven't got what
you’re looking for, we can promise to find you exactly what you want.
“Myself, Ben and his father Graham have some exciting
new horses to start competing this season and we are currently
on the look out for any other horses available to compete
on behalf of owners.”
Busy girl, Charlotte.
If she’s not careful she won’t
have time to enter the Miss England competition in 2010.
But if
she does, we’re sure she’ll win.
Charlotte’s Beauty tips for horsey girls...
1. Try to wear gloves as much as possible in the winter as your
hands get worn very quickly. Your hands are a real giveaway as
to how old you really are.
2. Always wear sun lotion. Being outdoors all of the time means
you have a great tan, but it will also mean that you are more
prone to skin cancer and the dreaded wrinkles!
3. Use a good moisturiser. The wind and the cold really does
dry out your skin.
4. Use good quality hair care. After having your hair under
a riding hat all day it becomes dry and broken. Try to use a
good shampoo and conditioner.
5. Always eat well. It's so easy to just eat at the burger van
when you’re at a show all day. But this will really show
in your skin. It is really important to eat as healthily as possible.