Pageant winner Amber keeps it in the family

Pageant winner Amber keeps it in the family

8 January 2014

FOR the Walsh family of Strangford there is growing truth in the old adage ‘like mother like daughter’. Almost 30 years after Karen Walsh scooped one of the top prizes in world beauty pageantry by being named Miss Hawaiian Tropic, her 14 year-old daughter Amber has won her first modelling competition.

On Sunday night, Amber was named Miss Winter Wonderland 2014 in Belfast. Her prize is a trip to the Alps for a photo shoot later this year.

Amber, who is a student at St. Colmcille’s High School in Crossgar, is delighted with her success and hopeful this bodes well for a future career in the modelling industry.

Karen, who is originally from Seaforde, is equally proud of her daughter and recalls her own unexpected leap into the world of modelling shortly after she replied to a magazine advertising for local girls to compete for the international title of Miss Hawaiian Tropic in 1985.

After being selected to represent Ireland in the competition, she travelled to America where she outshone girls from countries around the world to be named overall winner.

The competition, which was noted for its lucrative prizes, meant Karen was whisked around the world for three years as part of a £200,000 modelling contract, attending high profile events such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Rocky premiere and the launch of the perfume Poison.

She also won a new Porsche car, which, as a 17 year-old, she recalls driving around the Seaforde area with L-plates, a Monarch speed boat and a diamond pendant, which she still wears today.

“It was a brilliant experience but as a teenager it was very lonely and I tried to come home from America every couple of weeks so I was very tired,” she says.

“It was a whirlwind and I remember attending a screen test for the Young and the Restless, while being whisked from country to country to promote Hawaiian Tropics.”

Despite the glamour of her time in America, Karen was glad to get home where she went into the antiques business and started a family, having two daughters Jade and Amber.

She said Amber was very keen to enter the weekend’s modelling competition after hearing about her mum’s experience and watching her older sister Jade enjoy her own modelling success.

Jade and Karen have both been finalists in the annual Miss Northern Ireland competition. Jade, who is a hairdresser and nail technician with a new salon Jade and Co. in Downpatrick, has been selected to join Amber’s Alpine photoshoot to prepare the girls for the cameras.

“I was really looking forward to taking part on Sunday but was a bit nervous beforehand,” Amber said. “But it was great and I can’t wait to go on the trip.”

However, Amber, who is a keen rider and showjumping competitor for Eventing Ireland, is determined not to put all her eggs in one basket. Her choice of backup career is, however, a little less glamorous than modelling.

“My sister and I are really into horses so although I would like to do modelling I would also like to go into equine dentistry,” she said. “Maybe I can do a bit of both.”