A STUDENT nurse from Durham is hoping to be the face of one of Ireland’s oldest and largest festivals.

Collette Hesketh, 22, of Carrville, will take part in the Newcastle heat of the Rose of Tralee on Friday (April 26)at the city’s Irish Centre..

The Irish dancing enthusiast, who has performed in productions of Lord of the Dance,hopes to win through to the regional festival in Portlaiose, Ireland, and to go through to the international festival in August in County Kerry.

The winner of the 54-year-old competition serves as an ambassador for the festival and for Ireland for a year.

Collette will undergo interviews on the night and plans to give a demonstration of Irish dancing. The title of coveted by thousands of young women of Irish descent aged 18 to 27 throughout the Emerald Isle and across the world.

It is not a beauty contest and Roses are chosen for their personality, academic achievement.

Collette, whose father is from Belfast, qualified after a preliminary interview.

Collettem who is sponsored by Finbarr’s Restaurant in Durham. will undergo interviews on the night and plans to give a demonstration of Irish dancing. “I did auditions for Lord of the Dance in London in 2009 and I was in a production in Taiwan and danced with Michael Flatley ,’’ she said.

“I had the opportunity to carry on and went to Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and Bahrain.

“The competition is about the personality, it is all to do with the song Rose of Tralee, which is about the beauty inside rather than the outside.”