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’’’SEASIDE BEAUTY CONTESTS – ENGLAND’’’

This article looks back at the history of beauty contests which took place in seaside towns across Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. Initially an accepted part of the seaside scene, they later declined in popularity, but always had an setting and tone different from the more glossy national contests.

’’’Post-War Beginnings’’’

In the years after World War 2, beauty contests were being introduced in a number of seaside resorts around Britain. Towns like Eastbourne, Weston-Super-Mare, Margate, Great Yarmouth, Cleethorpes and Skegness staged contests, but the main focus was always the Lancashire and North Wales coast: Rhyl, New Brighton, Southport, Blackpool, Fleetwood and Morecambe.

The Morecambe contest (later to become Miss Great Britain) began, in the Summer of 1945, as the "Bathing Beauty Queen". It was organised by the local Council in partnership with the Sunday Dispatch. The first final was watched by 4 300 people in a continuous downpour and the winner was a civil service typist. According to the local paper, she received a cup, a "paltry prize" of seven guineas and a swim-suit. However, prize money soon increased to £100 in 1946 and £500 in 1947, and then to £1000 in the fifties.

’’’The Popular Years’’’

The 1950s and 1960s saw the hey-day of the sea-side beauty contest: these decades also saw the hey-day of the British sea-side holiday. Increasing prosperity meant that more and more families could take a fortnight's holiday on the coast and seaside towns were in competition for a growing market. Many seaside towns believed that beauty contests were important in gaining publicity for the town: in Morecambe, they were seen as second only to the Illuminations as the major tourist attraction.

And the contests were popular. Fifteen thousand people were reported to have watched the first Miss New Brighton Final in 1949. Weekly heats, with the girls parading around the local swimming pool, would be watched by crowds of four or five thousand in the early years.

The Foreword to the official 1962 Miss Great Britain programme illustrates the importance of the contests to the seaside towns. It said that "when the Morecambe Corporation started the contest in 1945, they introduced to the attractions of the seaside holiday, a new form of entertainment which has now become a big part of Show Business. As the years go by, the size of our audiences shows no signs of diminishing, the standard of our beautiful competitors improves steadily and the Contest remains as popular as ever." And, indeed, newsreel films show audiences packed around swimming pools for the finals of the big contests.

But, during the sixties, the British seaside holiday started to lose out to other types of holiday. The car was replacing the train as the main way of getting to holiday destinations, thus providing many families with a wider choice of places to visit. Air travel was becoming cheaper and some families could afford to go abroad for certain sun, rather than taking pot-luck in Southport or Scarborough.

’’’The Years of Decline’’’

The falling popularity of seaside resorts was later mirrored by a fall in the popularity of beauty contests. In some ways, this was a contradiction since national and international contests were now being covered by television and, indeed, the Miss World contests had high audience figures in the 1970s.

But, a combination of changes was taking place across the country. In relation to holidays, the British people were seeking more sophisticated ways of using their time off: the resorts were failing both to look after the seaside environment and to invest for the future. In a wider sense, the restrictions on women's lives were loosening and questions were being asked about what beauty contests represented: they started being seen as a symbol (or perhaps a scapegoat) of male society's view of women.

The 1980s saw the ending of a number of seaside beauty contests. Some of the local councils which had started the contests after the War were now asking themselves whether these were events that they should be involved with. Rhyl, Great Yarmouth and Morecambe took decisions to finish their contests and some towns moved the contests from swimming-pools to other venues, often accompanied by a greater involvement from private sponsors and organisers. Most dramatically, New Brighton finished its contest when the swimming pool was destroyed by winter gales.

The contests were becoming less acceptable and less popular as seaside entertainments. Once, they were a major part in publicising a seaside resort: now they were one of the minor attractions.

At the start of the 1990s, only Southport, Blackpool and Fleetwood were staging traditional seaside beauty contests and that decade saw further decline. Fewer people were turning up to watch and fewer young women were entering the contests, better career opportunities than in the past sometimes meaning that fewer had the time to spend summer afternoons entering heats across the country. By the end of the nineties, only one seaside contest remained, Miss Wyre in dull and remote Fleetwood. Southport had ended its contest because it wanted to diversify its afternoon entertainment on the Prom in order to attract a wider audience and Blackpool's contest had changed from swim-wear in the afternoon on the North Pier into club-wear for the evening at a local night club.

At the start of the new century, the seaside towns themselves are adapting to changes in the ways in which people use their holidays. Many seaside resorts are attempting to regenerate themselves, identifying their positive qualities and searching for new markets, whilst also appealing to tradition and heritage. Morecambe has had problems doing this, but Blackpool and Southport have been able to do this successfully and both were receiving major investment at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Indeed, in 2006, the locations on the Morecambe front which had hosted Miss Great Britain were either derelict or a fairground, although a refurbished Midland Hotel was opened in 2008. On the other hand, the Floral Hall Gardens, host to the Southport English Rose from the 70s to the 90s, were becoming the site of a new hotel (which appears to have been inspired by the Midland in Morecambe).

Beauty contests are unlikely to be a part of the new marketing strategy, in contrast to the fifties and sixties. However, the UK still has national and other beauty contests, including a re-vamped Miss Great Britain. Miss Blackpool has also had a "makeover" and has continued successfully in its new format for almost a decade. But, the only traditional seaside beauty contest to make it into the new century was Miss Wyre: it finished in 2002.

’’’Roll of Honour’’’

WINNERS OF MISS BLACKPOOL 1954 Elaine Smith 1955 Eira Roberts 1956 Leila Williams 1957 Margaret Wroe 1958 No contest staged 1959 Marilyn Davies 1960 Barbara Smith 1961 Anne Thelwall 1962 Joyce Kay 1963 Cheryl Driscoll 1964 Jennifer Gurley 1965 Pamela Harrison 1966 Julie Owen 1967 Nina Scott 1968 Marie Smith 1969 Pam Brookes 1970 Dawn Cooke 1971 Linda Thomas 1972 Linda Benn 1973 Wendy Anne George 1974 Sheila Mitchell 1975 Ann Dunsford 1976 Gill Clark 1977 Susan Hempel 1978 Janet Withey 1979 Pamela Jewitt 1980 Caroline Bell 1981 Geraldine Fuller 1982 Linzi Butler 1983 Jane Kennedy 1984 Vicky Ellis 1985 Karel Horton 1986 Zoe Bolsover 1987 Lesley Anne Steele 1988 Janet Pasquill 1989 Elaine Durr 1990 Helen Upton 1991 Jane Collier 1992 Claire Smith 1993 Julie Gillian 1994 Rhianydd-Lesley Jones 1995 Karen Smith 1996 Jennifer McLoughlin 1997 Vicki Lee Walberg 1998 Caroline Loeben

WINNERS OF MISS WYRE 1974 Susan Ward 1975 Sue Sykes 1976 Linda Lewis 1977 Susan Hempel 1978 Julie Curran 1979 Carole Ann Bird 1980 Leigh Davies 1981 Jo Moran 1982 Tracy Anne Murtagh 1983 Caroline Davies 1984 Linzi Butler 1985 Vicky Ellis 1986 Zoe Bolsover 1987 Justine Ealey 1988 Samantha Fogg 1989 Julie Paul 1990 Jane Kennedy 1991 Sara Whitehead 1992 Julie Cheeseman 1993 Shelley Hunt 1994 Jennifer McLoughlin 1995 Vicki Lee Walberg 1996 Joanne Birchall 1997 Karen Smith 1998 Lisa Caren 1999 Alexandra Bell 2000 Caroline Porter 2001 Sherene Fogg 2002 Jayne Earl

WINNERS OF MISS GREAT BRITAIN 1945 Lydia Reid 1946 June Rivers 1947 June Mitchell 1948 Pamela Bayliss 1949 Elaine Pryce 1950 Violet Pretty 1951 Marlene Dee 1952 Dorothy Dawn 1953 Brenda Mee 1954 Patricia Butler 1955 Jennifer Chimes 1956 Iris Waller 1957 Leila Williams 1958 Christine Mayo 1959 Valerie Martin 1960 Eileen Sheridan 1961 Libby Walker 1962 Joy Black 1963 Gillian Taylor 1964 Carole Redhead 1965 Diane Hickinbotham 1966 Carole Fletcher 1967 Jennifer Gurley 1968 Yvonne Ormes 1969 Wendy Anne George 1970 Kathleen Winstanley 1971 Carolyn Moore 1972 Elizabeth Robinson 1973 Gay Spink 1974 Marylin Ward 1975 Susan Cuff 1976 Dinah May 1977 Susan Hempel 1978 Patricia Morgan 1979 TV Strike forced re-timing of contest 1980 Sue Berger 1981 Michelle Hobson 1982 Tracey Dodd / Vivienne Farnen 1983 Rose McGrory 1984 Debbie Greenwood 1985 Jill Saxby 1986 Lesley Ann Musgrave 1987 Linzi Butler 1988 Gillian Bell 1989 Amanda Dyson

WINNERS OF MISS NEW BRIGHTON 1949 Edna McFarlane 1950 Violet Pretty 1951 Kathleen O'Donnel 1952 Brenda Mee 1953 Jean Ferguson 1954 Doreen Dawn 1955 Dorthy Peake 1956 Marion Lewis 1957 Marilyn Davies 1958 Joyce Kay 1959 Deanne Coltman 1960 Joan Boardman 1961 Judith Hickson 1962 Valerie Martin 1963 Diane Hickinbotham 1964 Barbara Jones 1965 Dorothy Hazeldine 1966 Carole Fletcher 1967 Betty Lawrence 1968 Barbara Ponsford 1969 Jennifer Summers 1970 Kathy Anders 1971 Jillian Holmes 1972 Beverley Ann Dunn 1973 Gaynor Lacey 1974 Wendy Anne George 1975 Penny Hilditch 1976 Gill Clark 1977 Tracey Dodd 1978 Jeannie Lipton 1979 Hazel Williams 1980 Janet Withey 1981 Tricia Leidl 1982 Jane Kennedy 1983 Vicky Ellis 1984 Zoe Bolsover 1985 Caroline Martin 1986 Linzi Butler 1987 Justine Ealey 1988 Julie Paul 1989 Jayne Corness

WINNERS OF SOUTHPORT ENGLISH ROSE 1951 Pat Kershaw 1952 Brenda Mee 1953 Marion Lewis 1954 Jean Ferguson 1955 Maureen Bradley 1956 Pamela Corry 1957 Lucille Vaughan 1958 Carole Flavell 1959 Roberta Brown 1960 Judith Hickson 1961 Joy Black 1962 Joan Boardman 1963 Dorothy Hazeldine 1964 Diane Parker 1965 Carole Fletcher 1966 Cheryl Driscoll 1967 Sheila Forrest 1968 Linda Thomas 1969 Jenny McAdam 1970 Jean Galston 1971 Kathy Anders 1972 No Contest 1973 No Contest 1974 No Contest 1975 No Contest 1976 No Contest 1977 Debbie Pollard 1978 Hazel Williams 1979 Wendy Anne George 1980 Caroline Davies 1981 Sue Hunter 1982 Geraldine Fuller 1983 Valerie Moss 1984 Gillian Bell 1985 Kate Myers 1986 Diane Brookes 1987 Shera Launsbach 1988 Sara Whitehead 1989 Julie Paul 1990 Susan Hutton 1991 Nancy Buckland 1992 Claire Smith* 1993 Joanne Christall 1994 Justine Ealey 1995 Karen Smith 1996 Jennifer McLoughlin 1997 Emmaline McLoughlin* 1998 Lisa Caren

Sources – written material in Morecambe, Blackpool and New Brighton Libaries