A HEREFORD woman will represent the city at the national final of a prestigious modelling competition on Monday, May 28.

Kate Paterson will take to the catwalk at the grand final of Miss British Isles Elegance at Chester's Crowne Plaza Hotel where she will compete against regional winners from across the country.

She has already been named Miss Hereford Elegance 2017/18 and now hopes to dazzle the judges and be crowned Miss British Isles Elegance where she is in with the chance of winning £2000 along with a modelling contract.

Kate's love for modelling began when she was 22 and was spotted at the Clothes Show Live.

Kate, who is now 37, said: "At the time I didn’t really believe I was good enough or have the confidence to see it through but it is something that I have always wondered 'what if?' about."

She then went on to work at Tesco for 19 years, 12 of which served as the night manager. When she was given the option of redundancy, Kate took the opportunity to follow her dream so set up a profile on a talent site and began building up a portfolio of work.

Miss British Isles Elegance is a national modelling competition open women aged 28 to 50 and is run by ALBA, the modelling industry watchdog.

Thousands of women from around the UK entered the competition, with the judges whittling the entrants down to a group of finalists.

Previous winners of the competition have gone on to pursue modelling careers, appeared on TV shows and in Bollywood films.

Kate says that her competition journey has inspired her to pursue her passion for modelling as a full time career and she is excited to take part in next week's final.

She added: "I hope this inspires other people to follow their dreams."