Last night, the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Welfare Officer, Damien McClean, told the audience: “I don’t care about charity, I’m here for the likes!”
But the Vincent De Paul Rose of Trinity was less about the likes, however, and more about the laughs, as roses from 11 societies gathered in the Sugar Club to kick off RAG Week. Up for grabs were endless bragging rights, eternal glory and the coveted title of 2018 Rose of Trinity – so much more than a mere lovely girls (and boys) competition.
Eleven roses showed up to strut their stuff, show their talent and represent their societies – from as mixed a bag as the Central Societies Committee (CSC), TCDSU, the College Historical Society (the Hist) to the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC), Trinity Politics Society and DU Music.
Carton House jokes were abound with Law Soc, while there was fierce competition with Cumann Gaelach and the Trinity Musical Theatre Society. In this star-studded event, nothing less than celebrity judges would do and the panel was occupied by TCDSU Volunteer Forum Co-ordinator Niamh Carruthers, the Chair of the CSC, Benn Ó hÓgáin, and TCDSU President Kevin Keane. “Who better to judge SU and society hacks, than washed-up SU and society hacks?”, host Hugh Fitzgibbon said.
Dáithí Ó Sé has nothing on the style, nor the sass, with which Fitzgibbon conducted the evening, with the three-hour event peppered with one-liner digs at Trinity life. The Rose of Trinity is the perfect event for anybody who thoroughly despises the Rose of Tralee – an evening that gets drunker and funnier as it goes on, endlessly embarrassing for everyone involved, and completely impossible to do full justice in the light of day. In the shadows and mood-lighting of the Sugar Club, the darkest secrets of Trinity life were gruellingly teased out of the Roses.
The talents of the Trinity roses were unparalleled. Sebastien Toze, the Phil’s Rose, offered a deeply moving rendition of the Scissor Sisters “Let’s have a Kiki”, complete with accompanying dance moves, and the host himself won McClean’s “Damo’s Gamo” – a game show interlude that really exhibited the talent that Trinity has to offer. If McClean was to take the prize for “Best Talent” at the end of the show, the evening also saw many wonderful voices. Lacking a backing track, the CSC’s Naoise Whearity was joined onstage by the Trinity Belles for a rendition of Meghan Trainor’s “No”.
Original songs were performed by the Hist and DU Music Roses, with some musical theatre from TMT. Non-singing talents included a makeover of her escort by the FLAC rose, a poem about moving away from home to attend Trinity by the Trinity Politics Society’s rose and Cumman Gaelach’s Míde Griffin performing on the harp.
The “Best Sash” category was scooped by the TMT rose, whose sash was literally made of the socks she had planned to give the competition. But the overall winner? DU Music’s Fiona Garvey. Her beautiful voice enchanted the judges and brought home the bacon for the society in their first ever entry into the competition. The inaugural DU Music Rose and the 2018 Rose of Trinity described the experience as “unbelievable”.
A great start to what will hopefully be a great week, the Rose of Trinity 2018 was, most importantly, a fantastic event to raise money for charity. Who knows, maybe we’ll see some of the Trinity Roses in Tralee?
