Ayrshire news: Pensioner preparing to make history as 71-year-old Miss Great Britain contender: ‘Age doesn’t matter!’

The Classic is open to women aged 45 and over, meaning she will be pitted against rivals up to 26 years her junior.

Best known by her alias Glamour Gran Ann, the septuagenarian said: “It doesn’t matter what age you are; people can do wonderful things”.

Speaking about her “amazing journey” so far this year, Ms Harper won the Miss Great Britain Classic Ayrshire in June, qualifying her for the Miss Great Britain final in Leicester.

She said: “What’s to be will be, but I’m very excited. I realise this could make history because I’m over 70, and I don’t believe it’s been known before.

“It’s given me a real boost in my life; to say it doesn’t matter what age you are, people can do wonderful things.

Ms Harper said for her, the competition “really isn’t just about the winning”, but that she is going into it “with a positive head”.

The beauty queen launched her own cosmetics brand at age 66, which sells a makeup palette called the Glam Goddess Collection.

Ms Harper is also very active on social media, and her Instagram and TikTok pages have thousands of followers.

She presented Glamour Gran Ann as joyful self-expression, free from the expectations and limitations others place on her.

She said: “I love big hats. I love furs. It’s just who I am. But I’ve had to not be like that, and I do get it. Sometimes you can’t always be out there like that. But I am who I am, and I love dressing up. And I get into character.”

Ms Harper said the “biggest thing” she wants to achieve in her work and competitions is to help combat loneliness and isolation, particularly among older people.

As part of this, she does events for the Community Led Action Support Project (Clasp) charity, and regularly attends a pensioners’ club on her street.

She said: “I just want to help people to realise that they’re not alone, because as you get older, you can go in a corner, and we can’t do that.

“I show these older people we can wear lipstick. We can go and get our hair done.”

Ms Harper also reflected on her own mental health struggles, explaining that on bad days, she finds it hard to leave the house.

She said that growing up in Glasgow, her teachers always told her she was “daft” because of her learning difficulties, and she has suffered from severe depression.

Ms Harper added: “For people who can’t really cope, it’s amazing how there is help out there. There is help, and we have to seek the help. And that’s what Glamour Gran Ann shares every single day: that it’s okay not to be okay.

“There are a lot of lonely old souls who really don’t go out of the house and this is what we have to get over.”