MISS ENGLAND EARTH 2010 - Sandra Marie Lees

PERSONAL PARTICULARS

BIOGRAPHY:

Sandra Marie Lees is a British model and winner of several regional and national beauty pageants. She has represented the UK at the Miss International and Miss Tourism contests. As of September 11, 2010 she also holds the title of Miss Earth England and will compete at the Miss Earth final, one of the top three international beauty pageants, to be held in Vietnam.

Sandra Marie graduated from Birmingham Theatre School in 2006, hoping to forge a career in acting. She entered Miss Limo 2007, and after achieving a runner up spot, began to compete in pageants on a regular basis.

Sandra Marie has promoted and raised money for several charities during her career. These include Walk With Cancer in association with the Miss England pageant, and Help For Heroes for Miss Coventry.

INTERVIEW

As a child I was quiet, modest and respectful to the people and the world around me. I have been blessed to have been raised within a loving family, supportive of my dreams and aspirations. I was given the freedom to explore and learn but always under a watchful eye. I learnt to play and make friends, becoming a social butterfly, taking an interest in the world around me. I have grown up in a multicultural environment and enjoyed experiencing the different cultures of the people that I met. Growing up I have learnt the importance of being aware of what is happening in the world around you. Too many people are blind to their surroundings and only seem to take an interest in the good things that happen.

Describe your childhood when you were growing up from 8 to 13 years old.

As a child I was quiet, modest and respectful to the people and the world around me. I have been blessed to have been raised within a loving family, supportive of my dreams and aspirations. I was given the freedom to explore and learn but always under a watchful eye. I learnt to play and make friends, becoming a social butterfly, taking an interest in the world around me. I have grown up in a multicultural environment and enjoyed experiencing the different cultures of the people that I met.

What lessons did you learn from your childhood/growing years?

Growing up I have learnt the importance of being aware of what is happening in the world around you. Too many people are blind to their surroundings and only seem to take an interest in the good things that happen.

There is always something to learn, something to teach and something to change. As a child I learnt from my parents, teachers and the environment around me. I watched bad things happen and learnt of the destruction in the world. I learnt that a positive change could be made by everyone, no matter how big or how small. These things I hope to pass on to those that look up to and learn from myself and I hope to keep learning along the way.

What is your most memorable moment?

Each year I spend Christmas with my family. On Christmas eve, we gather with family we perhaps haven't seen since the last year and share stories from childhoods, gossip from work and jokes from friends. This is where all my best memories were made. A few years ago my grandfather passed away during the Christmas season. But we worked hard as family to keep the joy and spirit that we had always had alive. He would be proud to know that we still spend that time together, indulging in food and family comforts. Throughout the year certain smells of cinnamon and spices will bring these fond memories to the front of my mind and I find myself working out how long it is until it all happened again, always giving a thought to my grand father, remembering the Christmases he spent with us, I will never forget the way he would tell me that I was going to be his famous model, the way he would tell my brother stories from church holidays we went on as children, how he'd fall asleep with my kitten curled up on his lap. Even as I remember this now I find myself crying for his loss, smiling from his stories and a sense of warmth from his love, making this my most memorable moment.

What is your environmental advocacy?

I plan to help improve my local environment hopefully with the help of local schools and community groups by making my city greener, planting trees and protecting the areas of natural beauty.

I am also proud to say that I have been sponsored for Miss Earth England by Renault Birmingham and an honoured spokes person for the 2010 range of eco cars. We will never take cars off the roads but if they are going to be there then we should do our best to make sure they are doing as little damage to our environment as possible and I know my sponsors are doing everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint.



PHOTO GALLERY