Orla brings Lady of the Erne title home to Belturbet

Sean McMahon

Tears of joy welled in the eyes of Orla Corby, as Gerry Henderson sang Lady of the Erne in honour of the teacher’s achievement of keeping the crown in its hometown.The vivacious Belturbet teacher was truly shocked when the judging panel chairman, Tony Walker announced she was the 23rd Lady of the Erne in a packed Slieve Russell Hotel on last Friday night.
“I am absolutely delighted,” a breathless Orla told the Celt. “I don’t think it has hit me yet, I feel proud and privileged. There were such fabulous girls in the competition – I can’t believe I was so lucky to be crowned the Lady of the Erne!”
Orla is the youngest in a family of five - one sister Aine, and three older brothers Eamon, Ronan and Shane - and is a daughter of Benny and Bernadette Corby. Bernadette sadly missed out on the excitement as she had booked a trip to Medjugorje earlier in the year, while work commitments prevented Eamon, a teacher in London from being present on the memorable night. However her other siblings and proud father cheered enough for the whole of County Cavan let alone the Corby clan, and their support helped to see her through.
“Totally unexpected” was how Benny described Orla’s win, adding “it was certainly a proud night” for the family.

Party piece
Orla counts Irish dancing amongst her hobbies, and the buoyant crowd were suitably impressed when she performed a party piece dance on stage at the conclusion of her interview with UTV celebrity Paul Clark.
Orla, now looks forward to launching the Festival of the Erne with what promises to be a spectacular release of balloons.
She graduated with a BA in Irish and Geography in St Pat’s College, Dublin before progressing to Glasgow to pursue a post graduate qualification in Education which she has just completed.
“I have been allocated to Aberdeen City Council, to a job teaching baby infants and there will be 16 in the class. I am really lucky that I have been given a job, because there are a lot of teachers out there that are not working at present.”

Proud
The Director of the Lady of the Erne Mark Leonard congratulated Orla on winning the title, adding that all 14 contestants from all over Ireland had done themselves and their counties proud.
“The Lady of the Erne is going 23 years this year, in conjunction with the Festival of the Erne, which is going 37 years. We are in times when it is important to keep the hope and spirit of communities alive and definitely after the great night we’ve had here in the Slieve Russell Hotel, that spirit and hope is definitely alive and well in Belturbet,” surmised Mark.
The new Lady of the Erne, who was wearing a beautiful dress sponsored by Letterkenny retailer ‘Pure’, was chosen by a judging panel which consisted of Tony Walker, chairman, Val McCaul, Kate Nee, Absolute Jewellery, Ciaran Fay, Seamus Moran from Fair City, and Patricia McCauley of Belleek Pottery.
Sponsors of the contest are the Slieve Russell Hotel, Vanilla Boutique, Belleek pottery, Absolute Jewellery, Galway Crystal, Cara Pharmacy, Bouquets2Banquets and Elizabeth McDermott.