TRAINEE hair designer Ashley Gill has won first prize in a competition held at a Darlington salon.

The challenge, between junior staff at the Workshop Hair and Beauty Salon, in Grange Road, was to a create a make-over with instructions to be as outrageous as they wanted. Ashley's attention to detail won her first prize in the competition, her first pair of hairdressing scissors.

The 18-year-old, from Newton Aycliffe, has only been working as a hairdresser for five months.

She said she was thrilled to have won the competition