Aisling Arts Festival set for 21st year of children's entertainment in Longford

It's been a busy several weeks for the students of Árdscoil Phádraig, Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon and Mean Scoil Mhuire, who have been working hard to create a beautiful 16-page supplement for the Longford Leader which previews all that the Aisling Children’s Arts Festival has to offer.

This year’s festival takes place from Sunday October 20 to Saturday October 26 and is simply bursting with events for children across the county and beyond.

“Aisling Children’s Arts Festival is now in its 21st year and the great theatre, art and school programme shown in the brochures is not the work of a crack event company or a paid government agency but a small group of mothers ( and fathers/husbands who are forced to help annually) that have a genuine wish to create something nice for the younger generation of Longford,” said chairperson of the festival Loretto McGarry at the launch event last week.

At the launch event, which took place in Backstage Theatre last Thursday evening, the winners of the annual art competition were announced, and received prizes kindly sponsored by Farrell & Coy.

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The theme of this year’s festival is ‘My Place in the World’ and all art related to that. The winners of the art competition are:

Age 3 - 5
Winner: Annelisa Casey, Lanesborough NS
Runner Up: Jack Dempsey, St Patrick’s NS, Ballinamuck

Age 6 - 8
Winner: Josh Curran, Fermoyle NS
Runner Up: Weronika Wojkiewicz Scoil Mhuire NS Newtownforbes

Age 9 – 11
Winner: Lainey Parker, St Mary’s NS, Edgeworthstown
Runner Up: Erinn McGee St Patrick’s NS, Ballinamuck

Age 12 – 14
Winner: Jennifer Flynn, Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon
Runner Up: Nicole Shepherd, Mean Scoil Mhuire, Longford

Special Category
Winner: Oran O’Hara, Aughnagarron NS
Runner Up: James Gerety, Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon
Highly Commended: Laura Hand, Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon

Age 15 - 18
Winner: Zuzanna Glogowska, Mean Scoil Mhuire, Longford
Runner Up: Kiera-Lily Farrell, Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon

Overall Winner
Isla Brady - St. Mary’s NS Drumlish

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