A FORMER beauty queen who competed in the 1960s has been tracked down, thanks to the Derby Telegraph.
Wendy George is now 63 and won the Miss Great Britain title in 1969.
Wendy, who now lives in Wigan having moved there after getting married, said she loved her time on the circuit and performing on the catwalk.
She said: "It was an amazing time in my life, I loved it. I miss it now, I've not done it for many years."
Wendy was tracked down to her current home after an appeal for any information about her was published in the Bygones pages of the Telegraph.
Lots of readers called in the same day with information about how to get in touch with Wendy – and we did just that.
Wendy said: "I'm shocked that people still remember after all these years. I'm flattered that they do and are interested in what I'm doing now."
Wendy was a pupil at Kedleston Secondary Modern, near Kingsway, and entered her first beauty pageant when she was about 14.
Wendy said: "I did a modelling course at 13 in Manchester which got me noticed in the right places at the time. I went on to do some modelling work for the John Lewis store in Manchester."
Before being crowned Miss Great Britain in 1969, Wendy had been involved in some smaller contests and was the Miss Etwall carnival queen in 1965 and 1966.
She said: "All the competitions were a challenge because you had to shine the most and make yourself noticed in the crowd of people that had also entered.
"There was the beauty part of it, with a few different outfits, and then the interview part, where there were questions about what you liked to do and what you believed in.
"You had to be okay with speaking in front of lots of people. It could be quite nerve-racking."
Wendy also went on to win Southport's English Rose competition in 1979 when she was 29.
She said: "I'd had my son by then and didn't expect to get too far in it, as I was up against people so much younger than me, but I won it and I was so proud. That was the last pageant I entered."
After ending her career, Wendy ran pubs – which is what her parents did – in Wigan, but has now retired.
Wendy lives with husband David and regularly meets up with other ex-beauty queens.
She said: "We go for lunch every now and again, when we get chance. We talk about what it was like when we were on the catwalk and competing with the best of the best.
"It's great that we've got a common interest dating back so many years."
