Miss Great Britain finalist teams up with Hartlepool charity as she vows to volunteer when in town

Lydia Rowlands, 21, is set to face over 30 other contestants at the final of Miss Great Britain in Leicester next month.

Although Lydia currently lives in Milton Keynes and will be representing the Buckinghamshire town in the competition, the business management graduate has a strong bond with Hartlepool and has been visiting since she was a baby.

Her parents were born in raised in Hartlepool before moving to London for work and Lydia has said the town feels like home.

During her most recent visit, Lydia decided to give back to the local community and volunteered at The Cracket Hub, in Wynyard Road.

The Cracket is part of Cornerstone Supported Housing and Counselling and helps tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Lydia said: "Whenever I’m in Hartlepool, I’m going to work closely with the charity.

"I want to build a close relationship with the charity going forward.

"I got to meet the team behind the organisation which was really nice.

“I helped some of the volunteers that they are helping to home and provide work for.

“The volunteers build the wood work and I was helping paint it with wood stain.”

Lydia hopes to spend more time helping at The Cracket when she visits Hartlepool again over the next couple of weeks.

She said: “I’m going to do a day in the woodwork workshop.

“Hartlepool holds such a big place in my heart that what better place to be able to help people in that community?”

Lydia, who was making weekly food donations to homelessness charities while studying at Surrey and hopes to set up a sports organisation for under-privileged children, added: "I’ve always been interested in helping the homeless and tackling that aspect of life.”

Cornerstone housing manager Natalie Lithgo, from Seaton Carew, said: “We would really like to thank her for coming along. She has obviously engaged with the volunteers who we have in. Our volunteers are our service users. They really took to her.

The 36-year-old continued: "We had a couple of the clients showing her how to do different things, so that was really empowering for them.

"She has done really well.”

If you would like to volunteer, visit the charity’s Facebook page Cornerstone Supported Housing and Counselling.

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