"I love Clontarf. It is near the sea and most of all it's on the northside," she says of the area that has been her home for a lifetime. "I've always lived in Clontarf, except for a brief period during the last war when German bombs on North Strand cracked all the walls and we were exiled to Crumlin," says the much-loved comedian. "Clontarf has everything - cricket, golf, rugby, sailing, St Anne's Park and the sea. When Dublin Port tried to swipe 50 acres of Dublin Bay, Sean Loftus suggested making Rockall an outcrop of Clontarf."

A week ago, at a concert held in her honour at the Burlington Hotel, Maureen Potter was presented with the Professional Artist's Trust Award as the Performer of the Century. The nightly cabaret at Clontarf Castle along the road from her home off Vernon Avenue was the mainstay of her career, she says. "I miss it but it was great while it lasted. Wonderful."

Maureen and husband Jack, who were married 40 years ago last month, have lived for most of this time in the same two-storey house overlooking St Anne's Park.

"There was a good garden for my first baby John and we put on an extension. It's wonderful to have St Anne's Park right at the back. I see 40 shades of green from my bedroom window and the autumn colours are beautiful.

"I feed the birds. There are Brent geese all over St Anne's and it's wonderful to see them taking off. The seagulls come right into the garden."

Maureen Potter wouldn't swop her house for any amount of money, she says. "It's a desirable location judging by all the letters coming in my door from estate agents. Tell them for me I'm a real northsider and I'm not moving."