IN PICTURES: Crowds attend Laois Living Well expo in Portlaoise

A big exhibition took place in Laois this April all about supporting the community to live well.

Some 1,000 people came to the first annual Laois Living Well Expo, opened by Anna May McHugh, with a Laois Ukrainian choir welcoming attendees with Irish songs. More below photos.

The event was held by Age Friendly Laois and Healthy Laois, at Portlaoise College on Thursday evening April 13, with stands by community, health and age friendly support groups, agencies, and information providers.

The Ukranian choir entertained on arrival with a beautiful rendition of Mo Ghile Mear.

This was followed by an address by Cathaoirleach Cllr Thomasina Connell and then Laois’ Age Friendly Ambassador and MD of the National Ploughing championships Anna May McHugh, officially opened the event.

The main stage featured talks by Ms Louise Edmonds of Age Friendly Ireland on the topic of assistive technology, a crime prevention presentation by Garda Sgt Graham Kavanagh and a talk by Women’s Shed founder Carmel Cashin.

Operation Transformation Leader, Stephanie Bowden was delighted with the opportunity to return to Laois, to give a talk about her own fitness journey followed by a very interesting and busy Q & A session.

The HSE provided free health screening and they completed 97 screenings on the day.

Healthy Cooking demos were also a popular part of the event, with a pair of Laois county councillors doing their own cookery demonstration, dubbed the Coalitition Chefs.

The Living Well expo also featured a debut performance by the Coalition Chefs, with Councillors John King and Paddy Bracken providing a very entertaining cookery demonstration, which was narrated throughout by Ms Anne Marie Kelly.

Cllr Bracken recruited the help of Operation Transformation leaders Stephanie and Andrea, to create a tasty and healthy vegetable soup. Councillor John King was on the main course section and he showed an eager audience how to bone and roll a chicken from scratch. Both chefs, of course had “one we prepared earlier” and the attendees were treated to samples of both the soup and the boned and rolled chicken.

Janice O'Brien of Laois Offaly Education & Training Board showed everyone how to cook a healthy stir fry.

Laois County Council report "very positive feedback" from attendees, with hopes to make it a yearly exhibition.

"On the day, we had an estimated 1000 attendees, with a steady stream of people arriving from before the event. The feedback from the event was very positive, and people stated that it was great to be made aware of and meet the many supports available in one location in the county.

"Exhibitors indicated that they were very busy on the day and that networking opportunities and connections were created with fellow exhibitors, with individuals and with community groups," a spokesperson said.