Guernsey Bel Mel is out to be Miss British Isles
Saturday 17th October 2009, 2:29PM BST.
Miss British Isles finalist Melissa Bradford with Hilary Sarre, managing director of her sponsor, DWA. (0856533)
Melissa Bradford, 24, who is married to island footballer Scott Bradford, will take part in the national competition at Southport’s Prince of Wales Hotel on 25 October.
Although she has worked in finance since she left school, she signed up for a modelling agency this summer.
‘My agency are really good at supporting and helping to develop their new models by suggesting casting opportunities and competitions that will help launch their career and build on their experiences,’ she said.
‘When I received the details for Miss British Isles, I decided to go for it as I recognised some top model names from previous years. Plus it sounded like good fun with the potential to win great prizes and opportunities from it.’
Mrs Bradford was among 14,000 women who entered and is now in the final 40, competing against women from all over the British Isles.
She hoped that her natural look would set her apart.
‘I’m quite friendly, which I hope will come across in the finals,’ she said.
There are three parts to the show. She will have to parade in a bikini and in an evening dress, and tell the judges about herself.
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When it comes to taxation we keep hearing that Guernsey wants nothing to do with the UK or the EU. Here the young lady has deserted the UK to live in Guernsey but still wants to take part in a UK event for the glory and financial gains it may bring. A clear case of having your cake and wanting to eat it.
Also better make sure she has full health insurance in case she trips on the cat walk, no reciprocal health care anymore
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Oh George Wheeler, what a silly post.
Of course this lady can live in Guernsey and enter a UK competition. Why not? Why are you moaning about such trivia?
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Hello truth man.
Not such a silly post, there is such a thing as residential qualifications. When Rudeski was playing for England and winning he was British, when he lost he suddenly became a Canadian
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Guernsey is not in UK. But it is part of the British Isles. Read your passports. Then read the article properly.
Bigots? Maybe. Idiots? Certainly.
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Er… she’s entering a British Isles competition for which she is qualified no matter whether she lives in Guensey, England, Wales, Jersey, IoM, Southport ……..
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Hello Aeschylus.
I have read my passport correctly. It clearly states “European Union. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther Ireland” no mention of the British Isles. I have always understood Guernsey to be a Self Governing British Crown Dependancy but not part of the UK. This is why Guernsey can sell items valued at less than £18 free of VAT to UK customers and you can buy goods free of VAT from the UK
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Hello Aeschyls.
I can add further comment to the passport issue. A UK resident serving soldier is required to hold a British passport for which the army will pay for. My Guernsey resident daughter is also a serving soldier. The army would not pay for the reneawal of her Guernsey passport, she is not classed as a UK citizen and has to pay her own passport costs.
When the UK joined the then EEC us Guernsey residents of UK birth had to return our passports. They came back stamped “Holder has right of abode in the United Kingdom” Residents of the Channel Islands with no UK parentage do not have free movement within the UK or the European Union.
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Rather than arguing about our status in the world, I thought I’d comment on the context of the article and wish her the best of luck – surely that’s what the comments should be about!!!
Best of luck Melissa :)
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George,
The competition is Miss British Isles. Guernsey is a part of the British Isles. If you don’t understand that then you should bury your head in some books for a while!
Even a quick Wiki search shows you are being churlish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_isles
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George – what makes you think that she has deserted the UK? Nothing in the article suggests that.
And as others have said, Guernsey is part of the British Isles. The competition is not limited to the UK.
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May I point out that Melissa is a lovely girl who has not asked for this debate, She lives in Guernsey, however was brought up in Devon England, It is totally brilliant she got though to the final and we are very proud of her. xx from all ur collegues in Barclays xx
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Annalease – of course she didn’t ask for this debate. If she does become a model I’d suggest a few irate Guernseymen will be the least of her concerns – far harsher criticism will follow. Unfortunately, if you decide to place yourself in the public eye as she has, you are asking to get shot at….like it or not that’s the way of things these days I’m sorry to say.
As for the specific comments here I must admit it amazed me how an article about a beauty pageant managed to turn into a debate about nationality. When George Wheeler rather harshly criticised Mrs Bradford for “deserting” the UK he evidently didn’t notice in the article that the lady in question had married a local. I hardly think it’s fair to criticise her for wanting to live in the same place as her husband!
As for wanting to enter the competition, why on earth not? Although I can’t stand beauty pageants for reasons I’ve mentioned on other articles, why should Mrs Bradford be criticised for entering a UK competition when she is from the UK? I’m sure Guernsey parochial politics didn’t enter into her mind…
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