For some of our Seniors this year will be their last time on the stage at Nationals, for some their last championships altogether. Some will go on to sit their exams in Queensland in May next year, and we will still see their faces around these halls for years to come. Some will settle back to their careers, their children, their families and somewhat "normal" life, not involving (or at least on a much lesser scale) fake tan, sequins and wigs. But before they go, we would like to say thank you to all - for the years of love and dedication that you have given this sport of ours. For the hours of hard work, for the sweat and the tears, for the smiles and the joy. We have laughed, cried, stood back in amazement and wonder, shared and realised our hopes, dreams and fears as we have grown together and become a part of the fabric of this community of irish dancing. So though you may be leaving the stage for the last time, and you may be gone from the feisanna and the classes, your dance shoes in boxes gathering dust, you will not be forgotten. You have all become a part of this, as it has become a part of you.
No sport is all sunshine and roses. In fact, after about 16 years of dancing there will naturally be parts of it that you will get fed up with. But, as Miss Jan told us in her speech today, at the end of it all, we all just love to dance. And it is that which unites us. And if you are about to leave us, should one day you wish to return you will be welcomed with open arms, because it will be like coming home.
