This article is from page 32 of the 2007-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 32 JPG
WHILE the politicians are on the campaign trail which they hope will lead them to the Dail, a Clonlara girl is on a votes trail of a very different kind last week.
You’re a Star competitor Maeve O’Donovan was raising support for her bid to win by visiting schools in her area and rallying support from the local community.
SRT eB WY ETAVor rasa oee EK Mh (cle) ats knock-out at the Helix in Dublin and was preparing for her next perform- ance at the weekend when she took time out to meet youngsters at Clon- lara and Parteen national schools.
The curious kids were delighted
to have a budding star in their midst and were full of curiosity about what it is like to appear on TV and per- form for an audience of thousands of critical people.
For 16-year-old Maeve, taking part in the competition has been a lesson she will never forget and one which many professionals would give their eye teeth to experience.
“lve learned so much from being involved and I could never have en- visaged staying in to this stage when it all started,” said Maeve.
The secondary school student stood out as the last female competitor in bolle iowa UNl ele
Fellow-Clare competitor Susan O’Neill from Ennis was voted out at
an earlier stage.
But Maeve has made firm friends among the other competitors. Speak- ing last week, she said that if she was eliminated, she would like to see Scuba Dice take the prize.
“They were getting such a hard time but I think they’re brilliant,” said Maeve.
With two songs to sing for Sunday’s heat, Maeve was upbeat during her school visits last week.
“When I’m jut singing one song, I get a bit nervous but by the time I get to the second, I’m into my stride and I can perform better,’ she said.
Sunday was week nine of a gruel- ling 12 weeks of competition which sees one hopeful act voted out by the
audience each week.
The prize is a valuable recording contract which could kick-start a showbiz career for the talented win- ner.
And she was non-plussed about the previous week’s criticism of her outfit for the show, an item which prompted radio presenter Ray Darcy to leap to her defence on air.
“We have stylists who advise us what to wear and I asked for some- thing a bit more casual for Sunday,” Maeve said.