Mullingar's Got Talent event raised twice its target

(Above) Francesca Vaz, singing the Pocahontas song ‘Colours of The Wind’, was the winner of Mullingar's Got Talent.

A talent show organised by Mullingar Arts Centre and held online proved a huge hit with audiences, and established winner, Francesca Vaz, as a name to watch out for.

Held over two nights, the imaginative event started with a line-up of 12, which was whittled down to five for Sunday night’s final, which was hosted with great aplomb by Shane Barkey.

Along with Francesca, the finalists were Sean McDonnell, Ellie-Anne Smith, Emily Shaw and Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty, and the funds raised through their participation go to the Get Erika to America fund and the Mullingar Hospital Frontline Fund.

The target the arts centre set for fundraising was €5,000 – but at the time of writing, the donations were just short of being twice the target, at €9,815.

The judges were West End star, Mark Irwin; Siobhan Moore, head of dance with Dionysus School of Dance; and Chris Corroon, The Helix pantomime dame. For the final round of judging they were joined by Mullingar Arts Centre director, Sean Lynch.

When it came to the entries, Ellie-Anne Smyth wowed with The Dixie Chicks song, ‘Travelling Soldier’; the moving and melodic version of ‘Grace’ by the young singer Seán McDonnell was top-class; the talented comedienne and actress Emily Shaw brought a range of different comedic characters to life; and Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty’s sonorous and rich singing voice presented a memorable performance, but the winning entry was to be Francesca Vaz, who gave a sophisticated and beautiful rendition of the Pocahontas song ‘Colours of The Wind’.

As the arts centre cannot open just yet due to the pandemic, the way the event worked was that the competitors performed from their homes and Shane carried out interviews over a video connection and the acts were critiqued by the judges.

The audiences had the opportunity of voting and donating via GoFundMe.