Six-year-old Ella-Grace has big 'Dreams' of becoming Britain's beauty pageant queen

Ella-Grace Clarke wants to represent her country in the international Miss Dreams competition in America next year - but first, she has to win top spot in the upcoming Miss Dreams UK pageant in Liverpool in March.

She hopes to win the honour of being named top fund-raiser at the competition after she successfully raised more than £400 for the Amber Court Care Home on Kipling Drive, Blackpool, where her great-grandmother Nora Whatnell lived until her death in January 2020.

Ella-Grace's mum Sammi Clarke, 34, said: "Ella had to raise money for a charity as part of the competition, and the charity title alone will be enough to get her to America. It was up to Ella who she wanted to support and how much she wanted to raise; she ran her own tombola and sold tickets on Facebook.

"Nora was more like a mum to me than a grandma; she loved the kids and they loved her. She had a very close bond with Ella.

"Ella really wanted to give something back.

"I think she's got as much chance of winning as any other girl. She's been practicing. This competition is quite different as she has to do an interview with judges, which she has never done before.

Ella-Grace, who lives with her Blackpool-born mum in Crewe, took part in her first beauty pageant in September last year and placed in the top ten.

In March, she will compete onstage against around 50 other girls aged between four and eight-years-old in a number of different categories, including evening wear and the extravagant 'fun fashion', for which Sammi is splashing out on a custom-made £280 Eighties-style dress.

Though child beauty pageants remain controversial, Sammi said she supported her daughter's decision to compete.

She even set up a Facebook group, Ella-Grace's Pageant Charity Fundraising, to help her raise money for charity.

"When Ella did her first show in September, she asked if she could do it again," she said. "It's not like I would ever force her to do it. It has really boosted her confidence. She's come out of her shell more at school. She's quite a shy girl, and her teachers have commented that she's started to put her hand up and answer questions in lessons now.

"We weren't even expecting her to get up on stage last time - but she did it. I was really pleased for her."

Amber Court Care Home administrator Caroline Sankey said: "Thank you to Ella-Grace for our residents here at Amber Court. We are very much appreciative of this.

"We are unsure what we are going to spend the money on as of yet - but we are thinking of doing something nice and fun over the summer."

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