by Alex Wellman One of the most prestigious competitions in the world comes to the borough with a London heat of the Rose of Tralee International Festival. The Corrib Rest in Salusbury Road, Queen s Park, will play host to a bevy of top b

by Alex Wellman

One of the most prestigious competitions in the world comes to the borough with a London heat of the Rose of Tralee International Festival.

The Corrib Rest in Salusbury Road, Queen's Park, will play host to a bevy of top beauties on Friday at 9pm as the capital searches for its representative at the six day festival.

The competition, which is now in its 50th year, is based on the 19th century love song called The Rose of Tralee by William Mulchinock.

Entrants to the festival, which concludes on August 26, must show the same qualities as the woman in the song, Mary O'Connor, who was described as 'lovely and fair'.

The ultimate winner will then be crowned the Rose of Tralee and represent the festival the year round.

Once the area winner is chosen for North West London the London finals will be held at the Crown Moran in Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood, on June 6.

The current festival stems from Tralee's Carnival Queen, once a thriving annual town event, which fell away due to post-World War 2 emigration.

In 1957 a carnival featuring a carnival queen was resurrected and one year later a group of businessmen decided to revamp it to encourage more tourism and regeneration.

The new event would be called a festival and the carnival queen contest turned into a celebration of the Rose of Tralee song.

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alex.wellman@archant.co.uk