FOR one former Whittington schoolgirl, life has been a series of achievements: village fair queen, captain of sports at Lakelands School and a cheerleading squad as an adult, and now she's been named a UK National Miss for Shropshire.

But for 31-year-old April Luong, she believes her success in arriving at these destinations is as much down to her journey of growing up in Whittington and Oswestry as a mixed race woman with Filipino heritage and how she has found her voice.

April, who now lives towards Pant, insists her life experiences as a mixed-raced child – with English, Irish, Chinese and Chilean heritage in the mix – is what has made her the person she is today, and is proud to be recognised as a National Miss from her beginnings.

Though while she admits there were some negative experiences, she says growing up in north Shropshire with her heritage was largely positive and has led her to be a huge part of her community ­– something she admits has earned her this title.

"I received confirmation that I had been named Ms Shropshire for the UK’s National Miss Pageant, two or three weeks ago," she said.

"It was done online, as because of Covid, everything had to be done virtually.

"When I chose which competition I wanted to enter, I really liked the ethics of National Miss as they were really promoting diversity, which is obviously something I was passionate about.

"You had to send in an application, describing everything about yourself and what pushed it for me in my application is that it was heavy on how much I gave back to the community.

"That goes back to when I was little, as my mum was always there and helping out, and that’s pushed it for me.

"My heritage is very mixed race – Filipino, Chinese, Chilean, English and Irish but we view ourselves more as Filipino as my mum was born and raised in the Philippines. The majority of our family grew up there and we have that culture in us.

"I think it’s quite normal for any mixed race person to almost feel enough, to feel British enough or Filipino enough.

"But I honestly think that I was so lucky growing up in Whittington and Oswestry in a great community. I know it’s not like this for every minority but it felt like our community celebrated us, were positive towards us and inquisitive about us.

"They wanted to know what it was like in the Philippines, what was the weather there like and what were the clothes like.

"It was such a positive experience but it could have gone a different way and turned into a negative experience that made me feel insecure about not fitting in.

"People were lovely to me and my family.

"I can’t say I didn’t ever experience racism – there were a couple of things but if you look at it on the whole, it was a handful of things compared to some living here.

"Some boys said that I had c****y eyes but I didn’t know what that meant and just thought some boys were being mean to me. It’s not very nice and shouldn’t happen but it’s such a small number of experiences against the positive experiences."

April has also modelled and graduated with a 2:1 degree from Aberystwyth University before a spell in London where she aimed – successfully – to pick up an acting agent.

But the next 12 months is all about the competition – which could lead to many more as she has applied to be Miss Galaxy for the area and hopes to compete at Miss England.

She added: "The first competition is the National Miss competition, which takes places in March 2021 and that will be ahead of the Miss Galaxy competition which is November 2021, which I am waiting to hear if I have been successful for."

With Social Media a huge part of her National Miss Competition, you can follow April on Instagram at @April_Luong_ and to have her attend your business event you can email Ms.Shropshire2021@gmail.com