A PAGEANT held in a Gwynedd village raised more than £1,500 for numerous charities on Saturday (August 14).

‘Miss Sparkles and Rhinestones’, a double-header event which took place in Bethel, earned a total of £1,555, with half of the proceeds going to Keep the Beats, a North Wales charity which supports with CPR and defibrillator training in the event of a cardiac arrest.

The other half of the donations from the pageant will be split between the Women’s Aid and Samaritans charities.

There were eight winners altogether from 34 contestants, with the highest scorer, the ‘Grand Supreme’, earning a coaching session with Hannah Golding, founder of Sparkles and Rhinestones, the UK’s leading pageant advice page.

Gemma Pritchard, from Caernarfon, helped organise the pageant along with daughters Erin, who co-hosted, and Efa, who judged the side awards, and was delighted by what a great success their first post-lockdown event proved.

“It felt a bit scary because, obviously, we still wanted to be safe, and I wanted to make everybody else feel comfortable as well,” she said.

“It was very positive feedback – everybody felt comfortable and ready for it. It was nice to get back out there; everybody respected each other’s comfort zones.”

Erin, 14, and Efa, 12, have been competing in and holding their own pageants for more than five years, raising roughly an incredible £50,000 in that time.

They are both patrons of Keep the Beats, a cause particularly close to their hearts after their uncle passed away aged 40 having suffered a cardiac arrest almost three years to the day of Saturday’s pageant.

And their fundraising endeavours are set to continue – Efa is competing in another pageant herself next month, while Erin will be going to Texas next year hoping to be crowned Young American Miss International, a title Efa won in 2019.

“I’d say it’s quite a large community in North Wales – we’ve got a few girls competing now,” Gemma added.

“Obviously, because of lockdown, everything’s quietened down a bit and there was less we could do (to raise money), so it was nice to be back out there, being active and seeing everybody.”