Milton Keynes charity founder and inspirational speaker named Ms Buckinghamshire 24/25

Dr Audrey Tang, who founded the Milton Keynes arts charity CLICK Arts Foundation, was named as the UK’s National Classic Ms Buckinghamshire 2024/25.

She is also known as an ex-carnival performer, a chartered psychologist, and a TEDx speaker. She will go on to represent the county in the Grand Finals in 2025 and hopes to use the platform to change attitudes towards ageing.

Competing is not new to the MK-based psychologist who has also written self-help books. She was crowned as Carnival Queen and Miss Hastings in 1993, at the age of 17. At the time local newspaper, The Hastings Observer, praised her commitment to volunteering during the process, saying:“Carnival Queen, Audrey Tang…has been a model queen: graceful, articulate, and hardworking in her fundraising.”

At 49, Dr Tang said challenging stigmas around aging was a key motivation for entering the contest.

“The Classic division means age 45+, and it’s important to me to show that age is nothing more than an attitude…that can be positive, but it can be negative... however that’s always our choice,” She said.

"As a psychologist my work centres around positive psychology – moving from OK to thriving, and this attitude is possible at any age. More so as you stand firmly on the foundations of experience and begin to care less about other people’s opinions.”

Dr Tang’s most recent book was an award-winner, The Leader’s Guide to Wellbeing claimed the Wellness & Wellbeing gong at the Business Book Awards 2024.

She added:“The UK’s National Miss/Ms” pageant is about empowerment and confidence building – they insist on age-appropriate outfits, and there is no swimsuit round! It is about speaking out and showing up as the sassy individual you are, and, if selected, using that platform to be the changes you want to see. While this attitude is something I always teach in my work, I know it is best embedded through action, and role modelled to really motivate others to feel the same, and I’m delighted to have that opportunity.”

Further details on the national competition can be found here online.