Beauty pageants have become somewhat alien to us Brits in recent years, and still come with a lot of stereotypes.

However, one Harrogate woman, who is now in the running to become Miss England, is determined to use her beauty queen status as a means of empowering those who have faced similar struggles to her.

Chloe McEwen — the recently-crowned Miss Yorkshire — was just 16 when she had a mental breakdown.

Although it was never proven, she believes her drink was spiked while on a night-out for her birthday, and attributes the events that followed to that night.

She did not sleep for three days and doctors ended up sectioning her after she began hallucinating and threatening to jump from a window.

She said:

“I went through hell and was diagnosed with a severe bipolar condition.

“I was shifted from one psychiatric hospital to another while doctors tried to get to the bottom of my condition.”

Ms McEwen added her weight “shot up” after living off pizza, chips and sugary treats during her eight-month stint in hospital.

“I peaked at 12 and a half stone and hated my body image.

“I look at the pictures of me from those days and cannot believe it is the same person.”

It was then that she realised she could use her time in hospital to improve both her physical and mental health.

“I realised that I could get myself better by getting fit and modifying my diet.

“I started reading up on the science of fitness and convinced doctors that I was well enough to go home.”

Ms McEwen has spent the last five years rebuilding her life. Now 21 and four stone lighter, she is a qualified personal trainer, model and, of course, beauty queen.

She now leads both group and private fitness classes, and is currently writing her own cookery book to help improve people’s relationship with food.

In addition, she has also become a Sports Traider ambassador – a charity that uses fitness to help young people thrive.

After entering the Miss Yorkshire competition to celebrate her new-found body confidence, Ms McEwen discovered it was “not just all about beauty” as contestants were required to show the impact they had on other people’s lives.

“Beauty pageants have had to modernise like everything else and contestants show they have a purpose.

“For me, that is talking positively about my road to recovery and working with the charity Mind to help other people going through the awful mental health trauma that I suffered.”

Her story remains at the forefront of her Miss England campaign, during which she will continue her advocacy for mental wellbeing in partnership with Mind.

She has also teamed up with The Prom Den – a dress shop in Brighouse – and will wear one of its gowns during the national competition. She added:

“I would have loved to have attended my old school prom after GCSEs, but unfortunately that was when I was still in hospital.

“Girls love dressing up to the nines for a big night of celebration after working so hard on their exams.

“Prom dances are huge at schools in Yorkshire, and it is great to be modelling for such a fantastic brand.”

If triumphant, Chloe will qualify for the international competition, Miss World.

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Two charities that provide much-needed support for local people are benefiting from the £7,000 raised through the Mayor of Ripon’s annual appeal.

Dementia Forward‘s community fundraiser Amy Senior visited Ripon Town Hall on Tuesday to accept a cheque for £3,500 and the same amount will be presented shortly to Harrogate District Mind.

Dementia Forward, which operates throughout North Yorkshire, opened its flagship community hub in 2017 at George Armitage House in Burton Leonard and a further five have followed across the county.

Ms Senior said:

“This donation is greatly appreciated and will support the day services that we provide through our hub club for people affected by dementia.”

Mind’s Harrogate District association was founded in 1973 and over the past 50 years, the charity run by local people, for local people, has been a constant source of support and confidential services including befriending, counselling and outreach.

The Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Sid Hawke, said:

“We are delighted to support two great charities and have been able to do so because of the generosity of the local community and the tremendous work of the appeal committee, which organised and ran fundraising events throughout the last mayoral year.”

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A new group is being set up in Nidderdale to help tackle isolation and loneliness in rural areas.

Hosted by Nidderdale Plus Community Hub in Pateley Bridge, it will offer men of all ages the chance to socialise and have fun.

It is being coordinated by Kirsty Dawson from Nidderdale Plus and Dave Rowson, befriending coordinator for the Harrogate district branch of mental health charity Mind. He told the Stray Ferret:

“There was some funding available for warm spaces initiatives, so we were speaking to community offices around the area about what they thought would be of interest.

“Nidderdale Plus said there are lots of little groups and things that are fairly female-orientated in the dale, but they felt they were not getting traction with the local men, who might be lonely and isolated and looking for things to do.”

The group will initially meet every fortnight, on a Tuesday morning. As it develops, it will set its own schedule and decide what the members want to do each time.

Suggestions put forward so far include board games, films, learning first aid and basic DIY, studying local history and practising photography. Visitors to the first session at the end of February also expressed an interest in trips out, such as to pub quizzes, museums, steam railways and sports events.

The group will initially meet at the Nidderdale Plus office

While attending the group is free, Mr Rowson said he recognised some people might not be ready to join it yet, but could be looking for other support.

The befriending service through Mind offers one-to-one chances for people to reconnect with others and build their confidence, which could lead them on to joining groups like the one in Pateley Bridge.

Mr Rowson said he hoped an informal social group might be an easy way for people to increase their network of friends and boost their mental health. He said he was speaking to local farming groups to build links with their members, raising awareness of the new group and what Mind can offer more broadly.

If there was enough interest, an afternoon or evening group could also be organised for people who worked during the day.

He added:

“That’s where I think some of the connections need to come from in the rural communities, to bring some of the men suffering with mental health or isolation. They aren’t in the elderly bracket, they’re just struggling and need some introductions.

“The motivation to get them there seems to be finding something that might spark their interest. Once they’re there, they end up talking about all sorts of things.”

The next session of the men’s group will be on Tuesday, March 7 from 10.15am until noon. To book a free place, email Nidderdale Plus or Dave Rowson.

Two local charities are to benefit from the sale of a book written by Jilly-Anne Powell, a former deputy mayoress of Ripon.

Proceeds from the sale of Journey to Identity will be donated to Dementia Forward in Ripon and the Harrogate branch of mental health charity Mind.

First-time author Ms Powell, whose husband Charlie was deputy mayor of Ripon between 2017 and 2021, told the Stray Ferret:

“The charities are very dear to my heart and I wanted to find a way of supporting them. Money is also being raised for both through the Mayor of Ripon’s charity appeal.”

Former deputy mayor and mayoress of Ripon, Charlie and Jilly-Anne Powell

In Journey to Identity, Ms Powell tells her moving true-life story of growing up as an adopted child in a middle class family.

Born in 1944, she found out about her adoption at the age of eight from a neighbour’s child, but it wasn’t until a change in the law in the mid 1970s that she had the legal right to see her birth certificate.

With that came the beginning of a 45-year search for her birth mother and the discovery of other blood relations.

Ms Powell said:

“I was six weeks old when I was adopted and, when I found out about my adoption at such an early age, it had a profound impact on me.

“I carried a sense of not belonging and fear of rejection for many years, which brought struggles and anxieties, in spite of the fact that I had a privileged childhood with my adoptive parents, with schooling at private seminaries, followed by two years at London College of Fashion.”

The ‘journey’ saw her find her mother, whose maiden name of Cawthorne is used by Ms Powell in the publication of her book and will also be used in a planned sequel.

Journey to Identity is available at selected book shops, and via Amazon by clicking on this link. To find out more, click here to email Jilly.

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A charity project organised by young farmers in Knaresborough has proved so popular, it has been expanded before it has even started.

Knaresborough Young Farmers Club planned to visit villages around the area next Saturday, January 7, to pick up trees in exchange for a £5 donation to mental health charity Mind.

Demand for the collection has already been so high that the collection has been extended to include Knaresborough and Harrogate by arrangement.

A tractor and trailer will be taken through each village, with club members on foot. They will call at each house where a tree has been left out to organise the donation to the Just Giving page or by bank transfer.

Households also have the option of taking their tree to Manse Lane in Knaresborough between 9am and 3.30pm for a £3 donation.

Club chairman Katy Addyman said:

“Our club is well known for our annual tractor run, but since that was set up we’ve had an increase in junior members aged 10 to 16 and they now create the vast majority of the club.

“We wanted to arrange something where all of our members can get involved in some way and help raise money for a great cause.

“This wouldn’t be possible without Andway Healthcare, who are allowing us to use their car park on Manse lane, and Travis Perkins for providing us with a chipper, and our very generous club leaders who have put the time and effort in behind the scenes.”

The villages on the collection route are: Brearton, Coneythorpe, Farnham, Ferrensby, Flaxby, Follifoot, Goldsborough, Kirkby Overblow, Kirk Deighton, Lingerfield, Little Ribston, Nidd, North Deighton, Ripley, Scotton, and Spofforth.

Anyone in Knaresborough or Harrogate who wants to arrange a collection can complete the online formor call Katy on 07443 650033.

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