Nieve Jennings, 20, is Miss Scotland and United Kingdom, and is an actress and model. She placed 16th in the Miss World beauty pageant in Sanya, China, last year. Her mother, Caroline, 46, is an area manager for a jewellery firm.

Caroline

She was born in Rottenrow in Glasgow — what a name that was for a maternity hospital. I’d been there before, two years previously, having Nieve’s big brother, Lewis, and I remember thinking, “Oh my God, it’s so Dickensian,” but once you’ve had your child it’s the best place in the world. When it was demolished, I grabbed a little bit of the rubble to keep. I’m sentimental, I think.

Nieve just popped into the world. My mum and dad had been told to prepare for a wait and gone for a cup of tea. They were still in the queue to be served when she arrived, all 9lb 7oz and with masses of black hair.

I remember looking at the other mums and thinking: “Och, it’s a shame for them, their babies aren’t as nice as mine.” Hormones have a lot to answer for: I’m sure all the other mums were thinking the same thing.

Of course, she was — and is — beautiful, which has not always been easy, to be honest. She was bullied quite badly at school and it’s the only reason I can think of for why she would have been targeted.

It is torture to think that your child is unhappy in their bed at night, worried about what some horrible gang is going to say the next day, but at the end of the day you have to teach your kids to concentrate their energies on themselves and rise above it. It’s not easy, though, when all you want to do is sort these people out yourself.

Nieve was a very shy child, which is why my sister said I should bring her along to Gamta (Glasgow Academy of Musical Theatre Arts), a theatre school she runs. It has become Nieve’s passion and her comfort: she can sing, dance, act, she is amazing.

Her dad hasn’t been around since she was about 14, it hasn’t always been easy, but we stick together and get on with it. I think theatre is very good for teaching children to be self-reliant.

In the beginning, I’d say, “You should go for a lead role”, and she’d tell me she was happy in the chorus, but as her confidence grew she started auditioning. It was from those bigger roles that she got approached to be a dancer in a fashion show when she was 16, and it all snowballed from there. I went to China to watch her in Miss World. I’m so proud of her, she’s accomplished so much.

I thought I’d be a pushy mum, but it turns out I am not. Seriously, I really am not. There is a difference between supporting them and pushing them, and, yes, Nieve gets my support 100% every time. But if she wanted to do something different, I’d be happy so long as she was happy. That’s the bottom line, it’s got to be, hasn’t it?

Nieve

There’s a picture of Mum with me as a not-so-tiny baby in the hospital — hair done, make-up on, pearls at her neck and the most glamorous dressing gown you’ve ever seen. She has always been like that, a gorgeous lady, but also a classic mum, putting herself out for everyone around her.

She has the most amazing personality, super-chatty, not boring — she’s always keen to do things. Not to say she never has her moods, mind you, but for the vast majority of the time she’s chirpy and up. She’s my friend as well as my mother, which makes her the most important friend I could ever have, really.

It’s difficult to imagine her not working when we were growing up — she worked morning, noon and night to give us everything we needed. She’s a very strong woman, not a lazy bone in her body. If I say to her that I want to do something her response is: “Absolutely, go ahead.” She came to China by herself to see me compete — I know she wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I was 17 when I first entered Miss Scotland, and I placed as a runner-up. I think I was too young to win, knowing what I know now. So after I finished my theatre degree, I applied again, and on the cut-off day for applications sent the e-mail with a scream and my fingers crossed.

It’s such a cliché, the model turned actress, but I hope that it’ll be different for me as I’ve been performing since I was seven. Really, I’m an actress turned model, I’d love to be working on something like River City up here, that would be brilliant fun.

When we got to Sanya, it was like Hawaii, all palm trees and sunshine. I roomed with Miss Wales, who has just graduated as a doctor. That’s what people don’t realise, I think, that the place is full of women who are highly qualified, who have a bit of substance. I hung around with Miss USA, South Africa and Wales — the lower end of the alphabet, like me.

There was no political aspect to the Miss World competition being in China. We were raising money for the Red Cross — nothing about Tibet was ever mentioned at all. We were worked very hard for five weeks, doing pageants and fashion shows in the run-up to the final, but like my mum always says: “If you’re there at all, you’re there to work.”