Miss Scarborough Takes the National Stage to Champion Education Trailblazers and the Yorkshire Coast

Becks Morgan, who holds the title of Miss Scarborough, is heading to the Miss Great Britain Final today with an outfit sourced from a local charity shop.

Becks who was born in Scarborough and is currently living in Whitby, aims to use the prestigious platform to promote the Yorkshire Coast and spotlight her campaign dedicated to recognising women in education.

Miss Great Britain, established in 1945, is described as the UK’s oldest and most prestigious pageant. The modern competition seeks a contestant who embodies strength, intelligence, ambition, integrity, and compassion, going beyond the traditional concept of a ‘Beauty Pageant’. Morgan is among the finalists preparing for the event having recently graduated from the University of Oxford with a history degree.

Expressing her motivation, Morgan shared her excitement for representing her home region on a national platform.

"Miss Great Britain is a pageant and whenever anyone thinks of pageantry they think of glitz and glam which has always excited me. I do love a bit of dressing up.

But what really enticed me and what I really took notice of was all of the work that lots of the girls have been doing within their communities and just the fact that it's a great opportunity to represent the area that you come from on a national stage and that's something I was really excited to get the chance to be a part of".

Becks says that for a key element of this weekend's competition she will be wearing an outfit sourced from a local charity shop.

"One of the sponsors of Miss Great Britain is cancer research.

And so when I went into town, I really wanted to take a look in there and see if they had anything I could wear for the competition.

And Danny, who works there, was incredible and he found the most perfect dress that I'm going to be wearing for the main portion of the pageant.

And I'm so excited to get to wear it on stage. So, a massive thank you to Cancer Research, Whitby, and Danny".

Becks says she intends to utilize the competition to promote the Yorkshire Coast. This focus aligns with the wider ethos of the organisation that owns Miss Great Britain, which emphasizes using pageants as a tool to promote tourism, eco-tourism, and raise awareness of the environment within the host region. The organisation suggests that contestants are elected as Tourism Ambassadors for their country, chosen for their ability to showcase tourism and their knowledge of tourist sights.

On her feelings about the impending final, Becks says that her primary emotion is anticipation but with a hint of trepidation about the opening dance event:

"It's mainly excitement. I'm going there to represent my community, to represent the places where I grew up and the places that I know.

And the only bit that's given me a bit of nerves is we begin with an opening dance number and anyone who knows me knows I have two left feet. So, if you happen to catch the live stream, then maybe just look at the other girls for that section. But for the rest, I hope you'll be championing me on.

I've got dance experience. However, I always thought that within Pantomime, if I went wrong there's a comedic kick to it, I don't know whether falling over in a gold mini dress on a national stage is particularly something I had planned, but we'll see how it goes. All you got to do is try your best".

Launching the ‘HER STORY’ Campaign

Beyond tourism promotion, Miss Scarborough is focusing on her campaign named “HER STORY,” which aims to highlight women in education who have been historically overlooked. Becks explained the core mission of this effort:

"I've started a "her story" campaign because many women throughout history have worked incredibly hard to break the glass ceiling with an education.

Not only have their achievements been silenced as women were often not awarded their degrees despite their pioneering work, many women and girls today are still not afforded the same privileges and struggled to get to the higher education that they've dreamed of.

My campaign is to try and award the trailblazers of the past with posthumous degrees so that they're actually recognized for all of the work that they did and in turn I want to create crowd-funded sponsorships and scholarships so that future women can really carry on their legacy and attend higher education institutions".

Becks says there is a growing recognition of the problem in academia:

"Recently within a Oxford University matriculation they awarded the first native New Zealander who had gone to Oxford. This was over a hundred years ago I think she attended. They awarded her with posthumous master's degree.

And so the fact that someone can represent their community in the time and still not be recognized for their efforts and it would take a hundred years for them to finally get the praise that they deserve I think is really an example of how more work needs to be. done for this and that people deserve the recognition for all the work and time they've put into something".