The Ringsend Rose

Pictured: Lorraine Waters was crowned The Ringsend Rose.

Pictured: Lorraine Waters was crowned The Ringsend Rose.

Ringsend is a town in Dublin with no shortage of ‘Lovely Girls’, but who, we ask, is the loveliest of them all? Well, the Ringsend Rose competition set out to find out and there was no end to the fun to be had in the process.

The event was held as part of the town’s annual Community Festival which spanned the first week of May, the finale being on Bank Holiday Monday with the May Day Parade.
The Ringsend Rose is making a comeback after many year’s absence from the festival line-up. NewsFour spoke to Kevin Clarke, owner at J Clarke and Sons, the venue that played host to the pageant.

“The organisers approached us with the idea of rejuvenating the pageant. It was always a popular event in the community years ago, so we were happy to get involved,” he told NewsFour. Organisers were the Ringsend Community Services Forum in conjunction with the Spellman Centre and they hope that this year’s contest will mark the beginning of a permanent comeback.

Pictured: Taking second place was Ida Rooney.

Pictured: Taking second place was Ida Rooney.

The ‘lovely girls’ took centre stage to display their talents but the contestant who was judged to have ‘exposed’ the most talent was Lorraine Waters who snatched the crown for first place with a cheeky tease.

The master of ceremonies, Paddy McGuinness coaxed Ida Rooney to take part as he had prior knowledge of her beautiful singing voice. Ida grabbed second place with her rendition of Kiki Dee’s, ‘I Got the Music In Me’, while third place went to Linda Dunphy, who roused the biggest cheers from the audience on the night.

Pictured: Third place was awarded to Linda Dunphy, pictured here with Lorraine Waters.

Pictured: Third place was awarded to Linda Dunphy, pictured here with Lorraine Waters.

Ida told NewsFour that the contest was Raytown’s version of the Rose of Tralee. “We took to the stage and were asked questions. It was like Miss Congeniality,” she joked. “The whole thing was great fun, one girl even did an Irish Dance. Overall, it was a very successful week and it brought back all the nostalgia of what it used to be.”

Unfortunately though, despite the fact that they were all lovely girls there could only be one winner. World peace may have to wait for another year, but comfort can be found in the fact that it was a fantastic community event.

By Maria Shields O’Kelly