BOURNEMOUTH'S beauties can pack away the swimsuits and stilettos and hang up their evening dresses, as town hall bosses drag themselves kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

In the millennium year, the resort has finally dropped the competition that launched a thousand pretty faces.

Branding the contest "old-fashioned", tourism chiefs announced they are to stop paying a fee to hold the Miss Bournemouth name, a decision which will save them a grand total of £15 a year.

The decision to scrap Miss Bournemouth comes in the same week as the death of Eric Morley, the entertainment impresario whose name will be forever associated with the Miss World contest.

Hardline feminists reviled the international competition and staged protests outside venues, claiming it was demeaning to women.

Bournemouth's smaller seaside competition was never the focus of such anger, but it became dogged by controversy from the 1980s onwards, when some winners began stripping off for national newspapers and men's magazines - much to the embarrassment of officials.

Then Emma Chilinksi-Reed, the last Bournemouth beauty to be crowned in 1993, shocked traditionalists by criticising the contest's "cattle market image".

And while Poole has produced two Miss Worlds - Sarah-Jane Hutt and Ann Sidney - from its own competition, Bournemouth's most famous recent beauty, Leilani Dowding, from Moordown, never even held the town's title.

The teenager was crowned Miss Great Britain after being asked to audition for the pageant by an organiser who spotted her eating an ice-cream in Leicester Square.

But she missed out on the Miss Universe title and her photo - with nothing but a pink feather duster covering her assets - later appeared in top-shelf men's magazine Mayfair.

Director of tourism Stephen Godsall said: "I do not foresee us running a Miss Bournemouth competition in the future.

"It's seen as anachronistic and old-fashioned and we are asking the committee to approve letting the title go."

But leisure committee councillors were split on the issue, with some members voting to retain the name.

Cllr Stephen Clarke said: "I think we should hold on to it. They might want to hold a Miss Bournemouth down at the Opera House or some other nightclub."

Pat Fail, chair of Bournemouth Carnival committee, which used to organise Miss Bournemouth said: "I didn't even know they were paying this money but I can't really foresee it being held again."

Do you think the Miss Bourne-mouth contest should continue or do you think its demise is long overdue? Call our newsdesk on 01202 296502, e-mail: newsdesk @bournemouthecho.co.uk or write to: Miss Bournemouth, c/o News-desk, Daily Echo, Rich-mond Hill, Bourne-mouth, BH2 6HH.