AFTER 237 years of prize sheep and champion heifers, judges at the Royal Lancashire Show are finally turning their attention to women!

In a bid to woo a wider, younger audience to the historic event, organisers are giving humans the chance to be one of the star attractions -- through the Miss Royal Lancashire Show Pageant.

One organisation has already criticised the advent of a beauty pageant in the 21st century as a major backward step for sexual equality.

But organisers of the show, due to take place near Ribchester next month, said the new event would be tasteful and a hit with visitors.

Val Caunce, who describes herself as a veteran of the beauty pageant scene from the 1970s and early 1980s, is one of the women behind the idea.

She said: "They are becoming much more popular again now. I think the whole idea of feminists being opposed to them is in the past. I think they have more important things to worry about these days.

"This is an event which isn't stuck in the past, it is something which we think will attract a new generation of people to the Royal Lancashire Show." Val, who lives near Chorley, added: "The women taking part will be asked to wear a summer outfit for the show.

"If we end up with hundreds of entries then maybe we'll have to whittle them down a bit, but we will have to wait and see.

"It's something that is really good fun and I used to really enjoy taking part in them."

However, a spokesman for the No More Barbies campaign, set up on the internet to fight the resurgence of beauty contests, said: "They are degrading to women and I think most women see right through them."

A spokesman for the show said: "This event will be part of ladies' day, which has been a very popular day over the years."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "Anything that boosts the attendance at the show will be a good thing.

"The judgment of beauty is something that has gone on not just for centuries but millennia and will go on in the future.

"To ban it on grounds of political correctness would be absurd."

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "It's a matter for the show's organisers what events they want to take place. It's a matter for local people to decide whether they want to attend them."

There will be prizes of cash, gym membership and beauty treatments

Anyone between 16 and 25 who wants to take part should contact 01942 204083.

The Royal Lancashire Show, first held in 1767, takes place at Salesbury Hall, on the banks of the River Ribble in Ribchester, from July 27 to 29.