After what seemed an interminable wait, Westlife arrived to be greeted by walls of sound at St Killian's National School in Cork yesterday.
The boys and girls of the Evergreen Street school, aged from eight to 13, were winners of the Pennies From Heaven competition, the charity which encouraged people to donate their old coins as the euro was introduced. The prize was a private Westlife concert for the winning school.
The band had agreed to perform in the school hall but St Killian's doesn't have a hall, so the venue was moved to the ballroom of the Rochestown Park Hotel. The plus was that the 58 pupils were invited to bring along their brothers and sisters as well.
By 1 p.m., the band should have been in the hotel but were still in Dublin, so the youngsters were asked to sit quietly and await their arrival.
Finally the five Westlife hunks emerged in shiny suits. Banners with love hearts painted on them were waved by the girls. Some of the smaller ones stood transfixed at the thought of being within touching distance of their idols and held their autograph books at the ready.
The band brought the house down with standards like Queen of My Heart and finishing with Uptown Girl.
At the end, Ramona (11), breathless with excitement, said she had managed to hug every member of Westlife. Gerald (13) was elated. He had scooped "face to face" photographs with Cian, Bryan, Mark, Nicky and Shane.