The annual Rose Ball will be held on March 10th this year at the Hotel Le Royal, and this there are seven lovely Roses all competing to win the title of the 2012 Luxembourg Rose of Tralee. The winning Rose will then head to Portlaoise, Co.Laois in Ireland on May 30th to represent Luxembourg in the Regional Finals, with the hope of qualifying for the finals which will be held in Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland in August.

There will also be a special guest in attendance at this year’s Ball, Tara Talbot, who is the reigning Rose of Tralee. She was crowned the International Rose of Tralee in August 2011 in Tralee, and as part of her year as a winning Rose, is taking time to stop off in the Grand Duchy for the 10th anniversary Ball.

As part of our of the fund raising events for the 2012 event , the Luxembourg Rose of Tralee has already held a hugely successful Boogie Nights party in November 2011, at the Black Stuff Irish bar, where great efforts were made by all who attended to dress up in their 70’s gear and boogie on down to tunes played by DJ Sam Steen - prizes were given out to the Best Dressed Male and Female as selected by the Roses, and everyone on the dance floor got into the swing of it for the best “hustle” completion – photos of the event are on the website www.rose.lu.

The next upcoming event for the Luxembourg Rose of Tralee is an Après Ski Party, which will be held on Friday, February 3rd at The Tube. The Roses will be selling traditional après ski drinks, and the DJ will be playing all the après ski tunes, so by the end of the evening, you will well and truly feel as if you have had a hard day on the slopes! So dig out the ear muffs and ski goggles and get ready to party as there will be spot prizes for the best dressed après skier, and if you need help, the Rose committee will be on hand to help out with accessories!

Whilst the Luxembourg Rose of Tralee organises many social events, which are hugely successful, and great fun, such as those mentioned above, it is also important to remind people that all excess proceeds from these events and the entire proceeds from the tombola on the night of the Ball are donated at each year end to various charities. The charities to which the excess proceeds from 2011 events are as follows:-

- Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner, Luxembourg : EUR 1,000
- The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation, Crumlin Hospital Dublin, Ireland : EUR 1,000
- Music Therapy : EUR 1,000
- Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Charity : EUR 500
- Mary’s Meals : EUR 500
- Share Luxembourg : EUR 500

Of course, without the support of both the Irish and International communities in Luxembourg, the Sponsors, the Rose committee, and of course, the Roses themselves, none of these events would be such a success, therefore, we encourage you to check out the details of all events, and to view this year’s Roses’, you can check all the details on the website www.rose.lu.

Tickets for the Rose Ball are now also on sale, and you can reserve your ticket by sending an email to luxembourgrose@yahoo.com – this event always sells out quickly, so put the date in your diary and book your ticket.

We look forward to seeing you at the next Rose event, either be it dressed for the “après” slopes or in your ball gown or tuxedo.

The Luxembourg Rose of Tralee Committee.