’A BEST friend’s lucky green dress helped a Basingstoke woman to win her way into the finals of an international beauty pageant.

Laura Kerwood, 27, from Beggarwood, won a place in the international final of the Faces of the Globe beauty pageant after winning over judges at the London area heats earlier this month.

She will now travel to Disneyland Paris next month for the final and go head-to-head against women from around the UK and 25 other countries.

Laura impressed the crowd and judging panel, wearing a green cocktail dress worn by her friend, 32-year-old Brenda Patterson-Seagar, from London, on the night she first met her husband. Laura, a former beauty therapist who now works in admin for Basingstoke Voluntary Services, travelled to Charlton Rugby Club, in south-west London, to do battle with 40 other contestants for one of the five coveted prize places.

She said she was “over the moon” when she was told she would be going to France for the final.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I did not expect to get into the top five at all – all the other girls there were absolutely gorgeous.

“When they called my name, I had to go back on stage and say a little bit more about what it meant. I had not prepared anything so I had to just remember why I entered in the first place.”

Laura earned her place by impressing three judges during the course of four rounds. In the first “interview” round, she was told she was going to have an informal chat with some of the judges. Instead, with her hair rollers still in, she was grilled by the three-strong panel.

The second round, which was in front of an audience all the contestants wore black trousers and a pink top with the competition’s logo.

This was followed by the “Over the Rainbow” round where contestants had to wear a colourful dress. Laura was greeted by cheers as she paraded on stage in her pal’s green sequined cocktail dress.

For the final round, contestants had to wear an evening dress. Laura said she opted for a large peach pink ‘princess dress’, which was a friend’s old wedding dress.

On stage, the judges asked Laura, who is sponsored by Forces Fit, what her most embarrassing moment was. She entertained the crowd with a story of when she entered a children’s sack race aged 14 and lost in spectacular style.