The county's entrant in the Miss Great Britain has been chosen after a 21-year-old was crowned Miss Worcestershire.

Barbara Smith was crowned Miss Worcestershire 2021 and will compete for the national title in September this year.

The budding novelist, who is working on her first book currently, has lived in the town with her husband Nick since 2018, and said she never dreamt she would win.

She said: "I’m not a confident person at all and I only entered to push myself out of my comfort zone. I never dreamt I’d actually win Miss Worcestershire.

"Now my confidence test has really thrown me in at the deep end but I’m so excited for the finals.

"I’m so honoured to be representing Worcestershire, and Malvern too. It’s a wonderful place and I care a lot about my community - and there really is a great community here."

Miss Great Britain has been an annual event nationwide since 1945.

Although it originated as a ‘Bathing Beauty’ contest, the pageant now centres around poise, personality and presentation.

Mrs Smith added: "It’s a competition run by women, for women. I think it’s a wonderful way for girls to celebrate their femininity in a time where I feel sometimes being an outwardly girly girl is considered kind of unfashionable or ‘unempowered’.

"Growing up my role model was Lynda Carter, the original Wonder Woman and former Miss World.

"I think it’s because of her I always had a secret little dream of taking part in Miss Great Britain."

Every year the Miss Great Britain organisation partners with charities and last year raised a whopping £47,000.

This year the beauty queens will be raising money for Cancer Research UK and Alex’s Wish, a charity that fights for new treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Mrs Smith also has another cause very close to her heart; “I love supporting small charities, where every penny counts and will be going to the heart of where it’s really needed.

"I care a lot about raising awareness for endometriosis too, especially among young women.

"They’re getting to grips with big changes in their bodies in their teens, and a lot of girls have no idea that the terrible pain they’re experiencing every month isn’t ‘normal’.

"It’s a very poorly understood disease, even amongst doctors and the care for endometriosis is pretty lacklustre at the best of times. But there’s so many people fighting to change that."

And how does Miss Worcestershire feel about the possibility of winning the national title later this year?

She said: "I don’t care at all whether I win or not though, just being a part of it is a once in a lifetime experience for me.

"I’ll always have the memory to treasure of the year I’ll spend as Miss Worcestershire."