Westmeath rose looks forward to end of her exams
Graceful, elegant, demure: they’re the sort of words that spring to mind when describing the girls who compete for the Rose of Tralee title.
They’re the sort of qualities Ballymore girl, Lelia Maguire, has in spades – and coupled with her zest for life, her sporting interests, her initiative and her overall personality, they’re the ingredients that have won Lelia this year’s Westmeath Rose of Tralee title.
“The phone has been hopping since,” admits Lelia, who was one 16 girls vying for the title at the Rose final in the Annebrook House Hotel .
It’s made her keen to get through the final months and the final exams of the four-year teaching degree she is doing at Maynooth, so she can really focus on her role as Rose.
“It will be fine!” she laughs. “I just can’t wait for college to be finished and then I can enjoy it, because it’s brilliant to get the chance to take part in this whole experience.”
Lelia was one of nine girls approached by the Ballymore Country Music Festival organisers, and asked to put their names forward as Ballymore representative in the Rose of Tralee Westmeath heat.
“There were interviews, and I won through: I was absolutely delighted,” she says.
Marks and Spencer in Athlone has come on board as Lelia’s sponsor.
Heading to the Annebrook for the county final was a more testing experience: “There were 16 of us, and we had individual interviews in the morning and a group interview in the afternoon, and then the stage part that night – similar to the Rose of Tralee.”
Audiences always look forward to seeing what Rose contenders do as their party piece, and Lelia chose to do an Irish dance.
“I would be part of Scór,” explains Lelia, adding that she and her co-dancers won the county title in 2009.
While one might imagine that the atmosphere at the Rose competition might have been quite tense, or even quite competitive, this wasn’t the case at all.
“I only knew one other girl there; I knew her from school, but it was very friendly and we all had a great day.”
While Lelia might not have rated her own chances, Ballymore did, and there was great support in, both family and friends, to cheer her on.
The next stage in the competition takes place over the June bank holiday, when Lelia heads for a weekend of Rose activities in Portlaoise, in a bid to win through for the opportunity to travel to the actual Rose competition in Tralee.
“I will be finished my exams in May and by the end I will be out: it is a bit of a challenge having final exams coming up, but at least they will be over.”
A big focus will have to go on choosing outfits for the Portlaoise weekend: Lelia will need to have several day dresses, and three evening dresses.
Happily, one of her passions is fashion, and along with studying, playing football with the Loughnavalley Ladies GAA team, and undertaking the daily commute by car from Ballymore to Maynooth, Lelia finds the time to work part-time in the Dorothy Perkins store in Mullingar.
Lelia is the youngest of a family of six. Sadly, her father died while she was young, but she is close to her mother, Mary, and her elder siblings – four sisters and a brother.
As it happens, Lelia is the third in her family to choose a career in teaching, although in the case of her teaching brother and sister, they opted for second level teaching, while Lelia’s preference was for primary.
Lelia has always been a fan of the Rose of Tralee. “I am definitely a big fan: I would always watch it, every year, and I was always interested in it, so I am delighted that I got the push to go for it,” she says.
It’s the first time Ballymore Country Music Festival ever nominated someone for the event, and thus, Lelia is proud on behalf of the parish, and the festival as well – on which point, she’s anxious to remind people to keep their August bank holiday Monday free for this year’s festival.
“It’s a brilliant event, and it’s great that it has been revived in the past two years and I have no doubt that this year’s will be an even bigger success,” she says.