Local ladies win prizes at Golden Years Festival
A Bray contingent went to the Waterford Golden Years Festival last month and earned a great selection of prizes for their efforts there.
Ailish Einnis won the art competition, with Gloria Marshall in second place while Helen Dolan was highly commended.
Meanwhile, Sylvia Keogh won third prize in the singing competition at the festival which was held over November 10, 11 and 12.
The ladies were showing off their awards at the Little Flower Hall last week in Bray. Festival secretary Babs Murphy said that hundreds of people came from all over the country to Waterford for the three-day event. The late actress Anna Manahan founded the festival, saying that older people should be proud of their achievements and celebrate their contribution to society.
The talent competition was held over two nights in the Tower Hotel, where the art exhibition was also situated. Babs said that the standard of both was extremely high. The talent show included every type of song and genre of music.
Active retirement groups from all over Ireland sent groups to the Waterford festival which has been on annually for 11 years.
According to Babs, next year’s event is already organised and many of those going have already booked in to the hotel. On the final day of this year’s festival, there was a sing-song with everyone joining in. There was a festival ball, a race meeting and much more.