Any individual over 60 with musical, singing, dancing or other talents who feels their big chance may have passed them by, will be delighted to hear of an opportunity to showcase their talent coming up.

Heats of the long-running Over 60s talent competition are taking place in Fermoy and Mitchelstown in the coming weeks. Organiser of the popular competition, Paddy O’Brien wants to give people ample opportunity to brush up on their area of talent to be prepared for the heats.

They’ll take place in Mitchelstown on Tuesday, March 26 at TO Park and in Fermoy on Thursday, March 28 at the Youth Centre.

Now in its 37th year, Paddy O’Brien started the county-wide talent competition for two reasons: two help combat loneliness and to give people over 60 an opportunity to perform onstage.

“I said some years ago that the greatest single problem affecting the lives of elderly people is loneliness and, unfortunately, that’s still the case. A lot of elderly people have no social outlet,” Paddy said this week.

The competition has grown to become a major event, filling City Hall in Cork for the final every year. A winner emerges from each area to compete in the semi-finals which take place in April.

Then, 14 are chosen to take part in the final which is held in May.

Paddy is a former regional manager with the Irish Heart Foundation and his affinity with the charity has led him to using the proceeds from the talent show to donate considerable funds to the cause. A whopping €417,000 has been raised in total from the annual event for the charity.

Paddy was named ‘Cork Person of the Year’ in 2011 in recognition of his work. He’s modest about his own efforts however and quick to praise others. This week he commended Kieran Barry from Fermoy Youth Centre for his work in organising the heat there and also thanked Fermoy Credit Union for its sponsorship of the heat. He also paid tribute to Tom O’Flynn of TO Park in Mitchelstown for hosting the heat there for a second year.

“He does wonderful work for us,” Paddy said.

Anyone who’d like to enter the Mitchelstown heat is asked to contact TO on 086-8282761 and for the Fermoy heat to contact Kieran Barry on 025-32042.