IT was the big send-off for the Westmeath Rose Niamh Moriarty and her parents beamed with pride as Topic visited Mary Lynch’s pub in Coralstown last week.
The excitement was tangible as Niamh dashed around the house making last minute checks to ensure everything was ready for the following day when she travelled to Dublin and met the other 64 Roses gather.
Niamh’s mother, Mary Moriartywas overcome with emotion as she told Topic how proud she is of her daughter. “We just wish her the best and there is a great family tradition of us going to the Rose of Tralee from the time they were children, so I’m so happy that’s she representing Westmeath.”
Despite just arriving in from a long day of work and training with The Downs GAA club, the lady herself was glowing with excitement as she offered Topic an exclusive glimpse at the gown she will be wearing on the day- a stunning fushia pink one-shouldered number with celtic detail at the bottom. “My dress designer is Angelika de Barra who is a dress maker from Kinnegad. After I won the Westmeath Rose selection, Angelika approached me to say that if I was interested, she would tailormake a dress to my liking for the Rose of Tralee. I met up with her in her home in Kinnegad where she’s based and we sat down. She had a few dress designs and in session we picked the color and the design and it went from there. I had three fittings and I collected it last Friday evening. As you can see on the bottom of it, the detail she’s put into it. It’s fushia pink red color and than it has orange and hand-made details at the bottom. It’s beautiful.
“It’s so nice to have a dress that fits you perfectly and it makes you feel comfortable. She even put my initials at the bottom of the dress as well.”
The dress was completely sponsored by Angelika and Niamh was full of praise for the talented dress designer. “She is very talented and I don’t know how she is not making dresses for the red carpet at the Oscars because her ideas are incredibly good. She’s started to get into designing formal ball gowns and she designs ‘Mother of the bride pieces’ as well. It’s not your typical dress though, it’s more like ‘super stylish mother of the bride’ tailor-pride. I’ve seen one and it was absolutely beautiful. I’m so lucky to have got her to design it.”
After completing a triathlon in Athlone last Saturday evening in aid of Pieta House with her workplace Alkermes Pharma Ireland, Niamh’s friends surprised her with an impromptu going-away party. “I was so tired afterwards and my sisters were like, ‘Oh no, please come for just one drink, it’s your last night before you go,’ and they had a surprise party with just my best friends. It was so nice to catch up with them because it has been such a hectic few weeks since the Westmeath Rose so I haven’t seen them that much.
“They’re all coming down to Tralee-there’s 28 people coming down to support me between family, friends and my GAA club so I’m very lucky.”
Talking about the support she has received since being announced Westmeath Rose, Niamh said she has been completely overwhelmed. “I don’t think I could have envisioned the support I have got from people, not only here at home and my GAA club and my work in Athlone, but from strangers too. I was at the Ballymore Festival and peole were coming up to me and asking me for photos and generally just wishing me well. I have enjoyed every minute of it.”
The Downs ‘Rose’ said the preparation for the competition has been quite intense. “I don’t think people really know that side of the Rose of Tralee. I have 17 outfits prepared and four full-length dresses. If you ever saw the film ’27 Dresses’, that’s what my wardrobe is like at the moment. I have all these dress bags.”
Niamh said the Roses would be based in Dublin for four days, during which time, they will touring around different parts of Dublin and Kildare. “We’ll be leaving Dublin on Tuesday and will have a protocol with RTE that morning and it’ll be put on all types of media. Then we will hit the road for Tralee where we’ll have a civic reception and meet our escorts on Tuesday evening.Then Wednesday and Thursday will be the semi-final night where there will be 65 Roses. There will be events on, like the Rose Parade and Ball, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
On Sunday morning, the announcement of the 32 Roses who will take part in the television programme will take place. “It’ll be a breakfast announcement and then other 32 Roses will do a day trip of Tralee as well and present the ‘Rose of Tralee, Out and About’. So you’re not going to have time to be disappointed because you may not be picked for the television, but you’re still going to have events to attend on Monday and Tuesday so you are still included.”
The live finals on RTÉ will be broadcast on 7.30pm on Monday and Tuesday, the 22 and 23 of August. “There’s also a new programme this year called ‘Road to Dome’ which will be on at 6.30pm and will be snapshot of all the Roses coming from all over the world and how they all got there. There is an individual interview and there is a group interview. It’s not just what you see on the night. The Rose of Tralee isn’t just picked on their stage performance. They’re picked on who they are over a number of weeks. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Niamh, whose father is originally from Lisnagree, Co. Kerry is the oldest of three girls. “My sisters and I are blessed with the life our parents have provided us with. We have so many happy childhood memories of the Rose of Tralee Festival. Each summer, our family holiday was planned around the Rose of Tralee events, Sunny days on Banna beach to the Tralee town park, the Rose parade and midnight madness to name but a few, Those were the days, we often say.”