GALA queen contest organisers acted quickly to make a young girl's day after crowning the wrong girl at the end of their selection night.

Teenager Stacey Ingham was left disappointed moments after she received the Colne Gala Queen crown and regal sash when the mistake was revealed.

Her short reign ended when judges said she was not the winner and the sash and crown were taken from her and handed to 14-year-old rival Vickie Anne Hyatt.

But organisers put a smile back on her face by awarding her title of junior queen for the year.

Today Stacey's mum Mrs Andrena Wilson, of Colne, said her girl had got over the confusion at the Shepherds Arms contest venue.

"It was not so much the fact that they had got it wrong, it was more her going through the crowning ceremony in front of everybody."

Mrs Wilson added that Stacey, 13, a former Gala princess, had now got over the upset surrounding the selection of Colne Gala Queen.

And competition organiser Donald Leaver said the Gala committee aimed to make it up to Stacey -- who he said had, in fact, come second in the three-girl competition -- by giving her the new title of Junior Queen for the year.

Said Mr Leaver: "We will hold a special meeting tonight to sort everything out. The results handed to me by the judges, all former Gala Queens, were confusing. It was only after we had crowned Stacey that the judges said she was the wrong girl and we had to take the crown and sash off her. She was a bit upset, but I think we can come up with a solution."

Real winner Vickie Anne, a pupil at Edge End High School, Nelson, said she was delighted to have won.

The girl who will take the place of honour at the summer Gala and represent Colne at Carnivals all over the north added: "I was a bit disappointed when the first result was announced because I felt I hadn't given my best.

"But I am over he moon at being Colne Gala Queen."

The Gala Princesses will be Stacey's sister, Michaela, 12, Laura Foulkes, nine, and Jade Braithwaite, 10.