THE GIRL WHO IS “ROSE OF TRALEE”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31178, 30 September 1966, Page 2

THE GIRL WHO IS “ROSE OF TRALEE”

A lovely Irish beauty arrived in Christchurch yesterday afternoon. She is Miss Laraine Stollery, of Hamilton, who won the “Rose of Tralee” contest in County Kerry, Ireland, last month.

“Everyone told me, ‘you won’t have a chance because you are blonde’,” she said.

But everyone was wrong. The dimpled blonde with the bright blue eyes and appealing lisp carried off the contest, together with a host of fine prizes.

Seventeen contestants, including five from the United States, lined up for the contest. With one exception, all

were dark-haired Irish colleens of song and legend. “I felt very self-conscious being the only blonde,” said Miss Stollery. The contestants’ parents or grandparents had to have been bom in County Kerry. Judges looked for beauty and personality, but the entrants did not have to parade in bathing suits. One of a family of eight,

Miss Stollery formerly lived in Christchurch where she was educated at St. Mary’s Convent. She will return to Christchurch with her family in a few months, but has modelling commitments in Hamilton meanwhile. Before the contest Miss Stollery was an office receptionist in Hamilton, but she has received so many offers of modelling contracts that she is thinking of becoming a full-time model. “Otherwise, I would like to be an airhostess,” she said. Although members of the Combined Irish Societies make an annual pilgrimage to the “Rose of Tralee” contest, this year was the first a New Zealand girl has entered the contest. Clad in a fake fur, which she bought in Los Angeles for £l2, Miss Stollery looked every inch a model. Her accessories were blue to match her eyes.

“Did I buy any clothes? I didn’t buy anything else but clothes,” she said. “I bought a lot of Irish tweed and hand knits.” “Prizes? I got a Continental tour, with £lOO spending money and £5O for wardrobe, a £2OO crystal vase, which was cut specially for the occasion, a gold wrist watch and a £65 gold medal—there were so many things, I can’t really remember.”