A mum has spoken of her “surprise” after finding out that she comes from a long line of beauty pageant contestants.
After Danielle Hampson shared the news that her daughter Bryana was going to enter Miss Teen Great Britain her aunts informed her that both her mother and grandmother had been involved in pageants. Danielle said she had "no idea" about her family's past and she "could not believe it" when the news was broken to her.
Danielle said unravelling the family's history had helped to "inspire" her daughter and keep the memory of "two amazing and strong women alive".
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The 52-year-old said: “I spoke to my aunts about how Bryana wanted to enter the Miss Teen Great Britain contest and they were not surprised at all. They explained everything to me and that was when it dawned on me that it is generational.
"I mean it must be in our blood, I’m the only one who never took it up.”
Her grandmother Rose Davies was from a Jewish immigrant family from Odessa. Born in 1912, from a young age she worked in her father's tailor shop in Allerton and developed her love of fashion.
Danielle said Bryana has a "huge passion for dressmaking" which she believes she has inherited from her great grandmother. Rose began competing in pageants in the 1930s and was a finalist in the Miss Liverpool beauty pageant in 1934.
Speaking to the ECHO Danielle said: "She was beautiful and such an elegant lady, she never lost her sense of style or fashion. Even when I was young she was such a trendy grandma.
"I had a lovely relationship with her but she never mentioned her beauty pageant career to me, she was not the kind of woman to brag about her achievements. She was not easily shocked and when I was a teenager I would go round wearing the latest fashions and she would love talking to me about all the new trends.
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"She was a beautiful and glamourous woman right up until she died and I was lucky to have her in my life for such a long time".
Rose married Alex Davies in 1934 and never competed in a beauty pageant again. The news of her upcoming nuptials even made its way into the ECHO. Rose died in 2000 and Danielle said that she sees "so much" of her grandmother in Bryana.
Danielle's mum Heidi Freed then took up the mantle and competed in pageants during the 1960s, entering the Miss New Brighton contest. Danielle, who is from Allerton said: "She competed before she married my dad in her early 20s.
"She was very glamorous and fashion-oriented just like my grandmother, always conscious of what she was wearing. On her wedding day, she wore a tiara, I think that sums her up perfectly.
"She was a homemaker and spent her time looking after me, she died just before Bryana was born and it was a difficult time as I would have loved my mum to be around to help me and meet my daughter."
However, Danielle said that discovering her family history has helped to keep the memory of her grandmother and mum alive. She said: "Bryana never met my mother or her great grandmother but it is brilliant that she has this tangible link to these two beautiful and strong women.
“Discovering this part of our history has inspired Bryana and has given her the extra impetus. I see so much of her in my grandmother from the dressmaking to her love of fashion and for me, it is amazing to see.
"Through her, we are helping to keep their memory alive and even though pageants have changed a lot since my mum and grandmother took them up it is great for Bryana to have such a strong connection to them”.
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