Press ball Queen Sheena went on to be crowned Miss UK
It was a big night for 18-year-old typist from Tullibody Miss Sheena Drummond in March, 1969.
She was named Forth Valley’s Press Ball Queen at the Sword Hotel, Stirling.
Sheena, whose ambition was `to see the world’, won £25 and a free weekend in Rome courtesy of Mackay Bros Top Flight Holidays with travel supplied by Alitalia DC9 jet.
More than 30 girls from Stirlingshire, West Lothian and Dunbartonshire entered the contest organised by the Forth Valley branch of the National Union of Journalists. Six contested the final.
Among the judges were STV personality Bernard Falk and Miss Scotland Helen Davidson.
During the`tense minutes’ leading to the judges’ announcement of the winner, Alitalia hostess Giancarla Chiesa modelled one of the airline’s new uniforms . Miss Scotland Helen then presented Sheena with her winner’s sash.
The Observer report on the event, which was of its time, said: “Sheena, whose hobbies are ski-ing, swimming and dancing, is a shapely 35-23-36 and she is engaged.’
As many will recall, Sheena went on to greater things and later in 1969 she was crowned Miss UK before taking part in Miss Universe Miss World competitions.
She worked for six years as a successful model and later married hypnotist Ronald Harris, Sheena, who had entered her first beauty contest at 15, gave up modelling aged 25 when the first of her two children was on the way. She went on to work full-time for a charity but returned to modelling part-time in later years.