Over 3,500 people took over Portadown town centre last Friday night for the spectacular Portadown’s Got Talent event!
The free event had been organised to celebrate the start of the transformation of Portadown’s Peoples Park.
Hosted by John Daly, the talent show kicked off the evening’s festivities at with 12 acts hoping to impress the high profile judges – Boyzone’s Shane Lynch, UTV’s Julian Simmons, Rachel Kennedy and local personality Dwaine Smyth from the Meat Cleaver.
This event was organised by Craigavon Borough Council in partnership with the Peace Builders Consortium and launches the ‘Part of the People’s Park’ initiative. It was managed by the Southern Partnership’s ‘Investing in Our Future’ priority supported by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
Over 50 acts auditioned for the event with the final 12 including singers, guitarists, violinists, pianists, dancers, rappers, magician & theatre performers
Following all 12 excellent performances, four semi-finalists were selected with 10 year old singer and guitarist Michael Haughey crowned the public vote’s winner!
Runners up were tap dancer Becky Richardson, singer and guitarist Claudia Stevenson and musical theatre performer Holly McConville.
Prizes on the night included vouchers and experiences from the High Street Mall, I do wedding cars, Studio 2, Segway NI, argento jewellery, Escape Beauty Haven, Dolce and Gelato and The elk and clipper.
Following the event was a fantastic live concert featuring X Factor winner Matt Cardle who belted out music from his renowned albums and well loved local bands Microlip and Silhouette took to the stage playing everyone’s favourite tracks.
The event is run as part of the Shared Process and Community Engagement Project (SPACE) funded through the Special European Programmes Body
(SEUPB) PEACE III Priority 2 Contributing to a Shared Society Theme 1 Creating Shared Public Services and has received financial support from PEACE III Southern Partnership’sInvesting in Our Futurepriority and supported by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE III) managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.