A MALPAS beauty queen who has raised nearly £10,000 on her way to a place in Miss England says embracing the modelling side of the competition could help her go far.

Eleanor Farr, 26, won miss North West Charity Queen in Manchester on Saturday, May 22, and will now enter Miss England on August 27.

The photographer says she was able to raise under £10,000 for four charities – One Woman At A Time, Beauty with a Purpose, Chester Zoo, Papyrus and NRAS – because of free time in the first lockdown in 2020, but admitted she was very proud of her win.

"I'm really happy – I did work incredibly hard over the space of a year during lockdown because I had no job," she said.

"That gave me plenty of time to fundraise and it's nice that my achievements were acknowledged, and I've been rewarded for it.

"To raise that amount of money has left me incredibly proud because my original goal on my Just Giving page was set to about £500.

"The idea I had was to set up an online charity shop so I went around the villages picking up bags of clothes that people didn't want and sold them for charity.

"I realised after the first couple of weeks how much I was making, that I'd hit my target so I raised it to a couple of grand, then £5,000 so I thought I could push to £10,000 but I didn't quite make it.

"It was around £9,500 and I wasn't disappointed because it had been pushed up so many times – I'm pleased with what I've done."

Eleanor chose NRAS as a charity to support because of her own lived experiences with Rheumatoid Arthritis, resulting in a hip replacement aged just 22.

And she says her willingness to embrace her feminine side may lead to her improving on her 17th place in 2020's Miss England competition.

She said: "It's a cross-section talents – fundraising, sport, but also the traditional beauty queen competition.

"Last year, and I'm not being 'woe is me', I didn't actually place for any rounds involving looks – I got my points for being a grafter.

"I'm a bit of a tomboy so I picked up my points for anything involving hard work and talent rather than looking pretty, and I am quite happy with that.

"I think last year I was a bit of a fish out of water with it – I was a countryside tomboy who didn't wear make-up, and as far away as caring about my appearance as you can get.

"I wouldn't say I've changed but I have realised that I can be feminine, so this year, I thought maybe stop looking so scruffy, so in the Manchester event last week, I did actually place in the modelling round.

"I haven't changed but I have realised that I've got a different side to me – I've embraced the other elements of the competition.

"I hope to do better this year because I've sussed out the beauty queen part of me."