Rigside girl awarded mini pageant title

She competed in the Miss Scotland Supreme pageant in April, and was crowned Mini Scotland Supreme 2016, a title she holds for a year.

Now the young girl from Rigside is making guest appearances, even travelling as far as Wales to appear at other pageants.

“We are so proud of her,” said mum Dawn Love.

“She has been doing really well, and she is a title holder now!”

Honey started taking part in pageants when she had just turned four, and has won around 20 ‘crowns’ after being placed in the top rankings, often taking supreme wins. She was even runner up in the Face of the Globe Scotland pageant.

Some are glitzy events, but many are natural, with no make-up or false hair involved, and her mum is keen to point out that these are not beauty contests; the youngsters are assessed on aspects of their personality such as their confidence and stage presence, and facial beauty is not one of the things they are scored on.

And there is also a lot of charity work, with contestants expected to raise money for many different causes.

The Scotland Supreme pageant was a “natural” competition, and Dawn added: “As part of her pageantry work in the lead up to this she raised £660 for the pageant’s charity The Brightest Star, which is a support group for bereaved parents of young children who have died suddenly.

“The pageant was a fabulous and really big event. Honey will be continuing with her title appearances and charity work through out the year.”

Honey is now in Primary One at Rigside, but her mum expects she will be appearing in pageants for a while yet.

“She loves it,“ said Dawn. “She absolutely loves it. She loves getting all dressed up and putting her crown on and going out meeting people. It is right up her street!

“We will go on with it for as long as she wants to do it.

“She tried dancing and got fed up with it, and tried gymnastics and got fet up, but this is the thing she loves to do.

“It has done so much for her confidence.”

Dawn added that she and Honey had both made new friends all over Britain among the other contestants and their families, and in the charity work.

Honey enjoys being on the stage so much that she is now thinking of becoming involved in theatre work, and Dawn is hoping that she will be called for an interview for a theatre school within the next few weeks.

“But she is really down to earth, considering she is doing so well,” said Dawn. “She still loves shoving on her jeans and going out to play in the park with her pals.”