Rose Maria looks ahead to 2015

HUMANITARIAN?Maria visited Kolkata in October as part of her work as Rose of Tralee with the Hope Foundation.


Rose Maria looks ahead to 2015 after memorable year

Ciara Galvin

IT has been a whirlwind year for Rose of Tralee and Shrule native Maria Walsh. Since the Philadelphia Rose was crowned last August Maria has been travelling the globe participating in charity work and promoting the Rose of Tralee festival. She took time out of that busy schedule to talk about her Christmas, and her hopes for 2015.
For the first time in five years Maria celebrated Christmas with friends in the US.
“Christmas Eve I spent the evening with my dear friend (and Tralee dress designer) Megan Swansen and her Mom in Doylestown, a small town just outside Philadelphia. She invited me to join in her traditions; dinner with her Mom in a cute restaurant and 10pm Mass in her local church.It was beautiful but I missed my own family’s tradition of Midnight Mass in Shrule with Fr Crosby. He always makes the night so special and as I grow older, I appreciate the great lengths he makes to ensuring we leave his Mass with great hope for the new year ahead,” Maria told The Mayo News.
Speaking about her own family’s Christmas tradition, Maria said Christmas Day sees typically 12 people sitting around a table in Shrule or in her mother’s native place Leitir Mor.
“This year the table was quieter. Our large family was dotted across the world this holiday - Kevin in Los Angeles, Eileen in Perth, Jamie (my cousin) in Boston and me in Philadelphia/Toronto. So many places and spaces but we all skyped and shared messages. We may be far apart but never far from sharing our love on this special day and remembering those who can’t be with us again this year.”
Maria will be in Dublin to ring in the new year in Dublin’s College Green on Wednesday for RTÉ’s live countdown and is looking forward to spending most of January travelling around Ireland as part of the Rose of Tralee Tour.
“I am looking forward to meeting the many Mayo people who have followed my journey to date in Mayo mid January.”
In February, Maria will be travelling to Chernobyl with Adi Roche and 19 fellow Roses, and before she hands back her crown in August she will visit Australia, New Zealand, Tanzania among other exotic destinations.
Asked what her new year’s resolution is, Maria said hers is ‘pretty simplistic’ – ‘365 new days, 365 new chances’.