Mayo Rose one step from Tralee

Mayo Rose one step from Tralee

The Mayo News has a piece about Michelle Moyles, the 2010 Mayo Rose, written by Aoife Gillivan

MAYO Rose, Michelle Moyles, will be competing in the Rose of Tralee International Regional Finals this weekend to determine whether she will qualify for the main event in Tralee in August.

The finals will be held in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel over the June Bank Holiday weekend, where British and North American finalists will also compete.


Michelle’s journey to become a rose has certainly been a family affair. Speaking to The Mayo News, the Crossmolina native explained it was her sister who filled out her application form for the contest, which gave Michelle a kick-start towards fulfilling a childhood dream.


“I suppose, like every Irish girl, I grew up watching the Rose of Tralee. I was five years old when I told my daddy that I was going to one day be up there on the stage. It’s a dream really to be involved in a contest I have been watching my whole life.” Michelle’s sponsor for the competition is ‘Alpha Wind Energy’ a Danish company her father worked with while setting up the family venture ‘Moyles Wind Farm’.


Michelle admits that becoming the Mayo Rose is ‘only just sinking in’ but she is excited to continue in the competition. She has already been practicing some social duties that coincide with the title, such as being invited as guest of honour at a ‘Sex and the City’ movie premiere night in the Broken Jug Bar, Ballina.


The Mayo Rose has been astounded by the support and encouragement of her family, friends and work colleagues. Michelle is a social care worker in ‘Ability West’, Co. Galway. Her clients, whom she calls her ‘family away from home’, have been exceptionally supportive.


“They’re so cute, they now call me ‘Rosey’. One client missed an interview I had on Mid-West Radio and has been plaguing me to bring in a tape of it.” They have also made posters and banners that some of Michelle’s work colleagues will bring to Portlaoise, in a bid to cheer Michelle on to Tralee.


Michelle proudly acknowledges her achievement so far, especially overcoming her nerves before singing in front of hundreds of people at the TF., Castlebar. Her experience of the contest so far has been wholly positive, as she recalls the kindness of a fellow contestant at the Mayo Rose competition. “It turned out I had to stay an extra night at the Castlebar competition for Mayo Rose and a girl I had just met that day, Debra, invited me to stay in her home. We went out with people from the competition that night, who were complete strangers to us, and had the best fun.” It is this positive meeting of new people that Michelle seems to enjoy most about being part of the competition.


The Portlaoise finals will be the last hurdle Michelle will face on her route to the Festival Dome. It is a case of the more the merrier who wish to attend the finals in support of the Mayo Rose.


She will partake in personal interviews, on-stage interviews and of course perform her talent of singing. All going well, she will be one of six girls, out of the regional finals twenty nine roses, selected to the live show.