Hartlepool beauty queen praises 'absolutely fantastic' response to her first self-defence class

Jessica Ingham, who currently holds the titles Miss Teesside Atlantic 2022 and Miss County Durham International 2022, is also a personal trainer and developed the class herself over the course of six months.

The first hour-long group session took place at the town’s Corporation Club recently and was part of a coffee morning raising money for Women’s Aid.

The 23-year-old had previously taught the class to clients one-on-one and decided to include it in the coffee morning in the hope it would make self-defence classes more accessible for people across town.

She is now hoping it could run on a weekly or monthly basis after seeing an “absolutely fantastic” engagement with the first session and said other charities could benefit as a result.

The law student said: “It was really good. Everyone enjoyed it.

"It was exciting. I’m definitely going to be doing it again and hopefully set it up as a weekly or monthly thing.

"The engagement was absolutely fantastic.”

It was the second coffee morning Jessica has organised this year after previously holding one back in January.

Jessica has said the next coffee morning is already in the works and she hopes the event will grow in the future.

She said: "We really want these coffee mornings to be big. We are really wanting them to create awareness.

"They are just focused on Women’s Aid at the moment, but once there is more interest, especially if some men come along, we are going to introduce some more charities.”

Jessica competed in her first big pageant, Miss International UK, back in 2021.

She is now organising her own charity pageant with a focus on mental health.

Miss Mindful Beauty will be held in April and all proceeds will be donated to mental health charity Mind.

It will take place online and people from all over the country can take part.

To sign up for Miss Mindful Beauty, email [email protected] or visit the Miss Mindful Beauty Online Charity Pageant group on Facebook.

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