BEAUTY queen hopeful Lauren Abel is determined to be a cut above the competition when it comes to raising money for charity.

The 22-year-old dance student is Darlington’s entrant in this year’s Miss Durham contest and has enlisted the help of her hairdresser mum, Anne McFadyen, to raise money for her chosen cause; ABF The Soldier’s Charity.

Mrs McFayden, who owns Top Cutz on Geneva Road, has pledged to donate 50p to the charity from every haircut she does next week to help Miss Abel raise as much as she can.

Miss Abel said: “I’ve already raised about £140 by doing a street collection in Darlington town centre and I’m hoping I can organise a charity football tournament to raise event more; I think that would be a really popular event so I’m hoping I can make it happen.”

Miss Abel, of Hewitson Road, is studying a BA Hons dance course at Teesside University but will swap the dancefloor for the catwalk at the Miss Durham final at Sedgefield Racecourse on May 25.

If she wins the Durham heat she will secure a place in the Miss England Grand Final in Torquay on June 16.