Heart defect connects Rose with Rose Bud

MOST Rose of Tralee contestants like to say they have a special connection with children they meet during the festival celebrations, but for one of this year’s hopefuls there is a definite reason to bond.

In June, Sunderland Rose Noreen Feeney qualified for next week’s event after navigating the competition’s British regional finals, held in Portlaoise.

Like all other entrants who reached the stage, the 24-year-old clinical hospital pharmacist who was born in New York but spent her childhood in Armagh was assigned a Rose Bud — a child supporter for the event.