Abdication crisis

Miss Birmingham chooses Flight over Fight and renounces crown.

Yesterday Rosie Thompson, Miss Birmingham 2015, made the difficult decision to give up her title as the Miss of the City as she moves to Gatwick to take on a full time career as a Air Stewardess for British Airways.

Since winning Miss Birmingham 2015 in March at the Burlington Hotel, Rosie has been completing her training as air stewardess, hoping for a placement at Birmingham International Airport. After weeks of intensive training she came top of her class and was offered a mixed fleet role at London Gatwick.

Still determined to represent her much-loved city, Rosie travelled weekly from London to Birmingham to help charity and community events alongside her Mr Birmingham counterpart, Joshua Williams.

However, due to the pressure of travel and her commitment to the airline, Rosie has made the difficult decision this week to denounce her title and focus on her career.

Rosie said “It has been a really difficult decision and there has been lots of tears, I love the city and being Miss Birmingham so much but I needed to focus on my career and the commute to work just became to great.”

As part of the Miss England rules, the Miss Birmingham place is then offered to the runner-up of the competition, Molly Noke, 17 from Redditch. Molly did extremely well in the competition, raising over £900 for the Miss World charity Beauty With a Purpose and receiving the semi-final title of Miss Redditch.

Molly Noke said “It’s just been a whirlwind this week and such an opportunity. When the Miss Birmingham bosses told me I was on holiday and had to talk it through with my parents. It’s a big responsibility but I can’t wait to do the city proud and take over where Rosie left off.”

Molly will now take part in numerous events across the city as Miss Birmingham until the competition graces our city once more in March 2016. You can follow her journey on Twitter @MissBirmingham_

Rachael Barker, Miss England West Midlands Director says “It was such a shame that Rosie felt she could no longer be Miss Birmingham, as she had tried so hard for 2 years for the title. However Molly was a fantastic finalist and a worthy winner for the title. The entries for next year’s competition have already begun with over 100 applications since it was opened the beginning of September. If anyone aged 16-25 would like to enter Miss Birmingham 2016, please email [email protected] or go to www.missenglandwm.com and click Enter”.