Beauty with a Purpose in Hampshire

The Hampshire contestants of 2015 raised collectively nearly £10,000 - smashing the previous Hampshire targets by thousands!

A number of contestants chose to raise money for the official Miss World charity Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP), which helps countless amounts of children around the world, and their local communities. From supplying water, to building houses, supplying books and holidays, BWAP is a truly unique charity that has even been acknowledged by the late Nelson Mandela and music mogul Simon Cowell.

Many contestants also fundraised for charities very close to their heart, so I wanted to share with you our efforts and stories on how and why we fundraised for these amazing causes.

Louisa Emery - Miss Social Media Hampshire 2015

"I raised money for Naomi House & Jacksplace in memory of Jayden Wilson. Jayden sadly passed away from a brain tumour on Christmas Eve. I chose to raise money for this following the 'hope for Jayden' story on Facebook. It was a really heartbreaking story and I never thought it would come to an end. So far I've raised £1839.82 that I will continue to raise throughout the year. I raised all the money with a charity fun day at my local pub. We had a bouncy castle, face painting, charity waxing,a raffle, auctions, charity head shave and also a band in the evening. It was a very successful day."

Larissa Hirst (Me) - Miss Hampshire 2015, Miss Eco, Miss PR & Miss Popularity

I decided to fundraise for Southampton Hospital Charity before I entered Miss Hampshire, and realised what I could do for the charity if I won the title so this was my main motivator for the competition. The fundraising I’m doing is for the Hamwic Ward, where 85% of chemo patients at the hospital receive treatment. I’m fundraising as my boyfriend had treatment in the ward after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 2014. After Ian had a round of chemotherapy at the Hamwic Ward we both felt that the ward and the hospital deserved some recognition for the brilliant work they do.

Nobody ever expects to have cancer, especially aged just 26, but we hope we can raise awareness of the disease and help the people who helped us so much during Ian’s journey of diagnosis, surgery, chemo and after care.

I’m fundraising by running the Southampton half-marathon next month, as well as a number of upcoming events and challenges, so stay tuned!

Alice Cutler, Miss Hampshire finalist 2015

“As well as BWAP I raised money for Cancer Research UK. I have a very personal story associated with the charity as my Dad unfortunately passed away from cancer when I was 9 years old. During Miss Hampshire I began to collect money for the Race For Life which I am doing in June and have so far raised £50! I also intend in the future to organise some events at David Lloyd Ringwood where I work, with help from the club to raise money, if they are willing to do so! I also plan to do another charity swim, as well as training for other sporting events such as cycles and runs which are in the pipelines! Fingers crossed I can organise this all and raise a lot of money for this very special charity in future.”

I’ll be adding to this piece as we all continue with our hard work and fundraising so keep an eye out! :) x