Miss England final delight for Ponteland's India Fenwick who has rare eye condition micropthalmia

India Fenwick had “an amazing experience” at the recent Miss England final in Birmingham. She only found out she had been selected last month as she was one of the last finalists to be chosen.

The 21-year-old was born with the rare eye condition micropthalmia. As a result, her left eye was 25 per cent smaller than her right and fully blind.

She has had to deal with self hatred issues due to nasty comments when she was a teenager, but she has worked hard on having a positive outlook and trying new things, and wearing a prosthetic eye since sixth form has helped her confidence.

This led to the application for Miss England and impressing the selection panel for the finalists has given her the platform to raise awareness.

As well as the traditional catwalk and speaking with the judges for the final, there was a challenge to create an ‘eco dress’. India upcycled old dance outfits and used book pages to create a floral element, and was placed third.

She said: “Some of my friends who had done things like this said I would enjoy it and I also decided to apply as I knew it would take me out of my comfort zone.

“Although I had less time to prepare than most, I’m pleased with how I’ve spread my message over the last month and how I did in Birmingham.

“I had an amazing experience and the other girls were great – I’ve definitely made some friends for life.”

India, who completed a foundation art diploma at Newcastle College (visual communication and illustration), sells her artwork to raise money for eyesight charities and she is also setting up her own blog to offer advice and support.

She added: “I’ve been through some tough times and felt self hatred after the comments at high school, but I’ve worked on my mental health and, together with wearing the prosthetic eye, I realised that being different is not a bad thing – it’s just different.

“It can be very lonely when you have this type of condition, so my aim for the blog is to help others with a birth defect condition.”