‘This is a massive achievement for someone my age’ – Sheffield grandmother competes in international modelling contest

A Sheffield grandmother who recently came runner-up in a national modelling competition has now represented her country on the international stage.
Julia at the Miss International Rose Elegance competition.Julia at the Miss International Rose Elegance competition.
Julia at the Miss International Rose Elegance competition.

Julia Goodinson, from Norton, a 50-something grandmother-of-two, competed in Miss International Rose Elegance earlier this month, which saw dozens of models from all over the world attend.

In May, Julia came runner-up at the Miss British Isles ‘Classic’ competition for women over 45 in Chester, before going on to compete in an over 35s international competition in Southport two weeks ago.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She didn’t win unfortunately, but nevertheless hopes her achievements can give other middle-aged women in Sheffield the confidence to believe they can grow older gracefully.

“The age group was much younger than the British competition and I was one of the older ones so it was so good to even get there,” she said.

“It was really exciting and I met loads of nice people. I just want to prove that when you get older you shouldn’t be written off and you can still do things like this.

“This was a massive achievement for someone my age.”

The competition saw around 40 women compete in two heats, one a cocktail dress round and the other in an evening gown.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Julia said that the competitions judge the women’s catwalk modelling ability rather than an old-fashioned beauty contest.

“It is something that you can learn but you need to have the confidence to pull it off,” she said.

“It is about walking with an attitude. Not everyone can do it.”

Julia added that she was particularly pleased that the charity the competition was held in aid of - Days Out For Kidz - were able to send some of the children who had benefited from their fundraising.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As well as competing in modelling contests, Julia has also appeared in 19 films, and recently took part in a major motion picture filmed in Sheffield itself.

She got a prominent role in the film version of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the Sheffield-based musical about a teenage drag queen, but has been sworn to secrecy about the film and her role until the movie comes out next October.

Related topics: