IN PICTURES: Huge attendance includes Google at Laois Live Well Expo

The second annual Laois Live Well Expo attracted well over a thousand citizens in the county to Portlaoise College on Thursday, April  4, to discover how to live in good health and happiness, despite older age or disability. 

The expo had an upbeat social atmosphere, with visitors from every part of Laois stopping to chat with each other and with exhibitors, enjoying some freebies, food and music into the bargain.  More below gallery, Click NEXT to see photos.

Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association, Laois award winning businesswoman Anna May McHugh, in her 90th year, told a large audience as she launched the day that "age is only a number".

"Don't say I'm 80, or I'm 90, it's only a number. Age is a privilege denied to many," she said.

The event was arranged by Age Action Laois and Healthy Laois co-ordinators, Tom Curran and Emma O'Connor respectively.

The schools gym was filled to the brim with stands from clubs and organisations around Laois, and people meeting and chatting  to friends new and old. It spilled out into the corridors and classrooms while in the concert hall an audience enjoyed talks on travel, cookery, road safety, internet safety and getting active, rounded off with live music dancing.

In one classroom the HSE were giving free health checks, a service which last year resulted in many being referred to their doctors for treatment. 

Eight eager Google employees were on hand in another classroom, giving free tech lessons about phones and other devices. 

Stands offered a wide range of information, such as St Vincent de Paul supports, Mens and Womens Sheds, Durrow bike hire, community Gardai, LSPCA and Irish Guidedogs, craniotherapists, sports, swimming, First Responders and Darkness into Light.  

Tom Curran spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live at the event.

"We have over 100 stands this year, and have added Google and LOETB's Stay Connected, with a cookery demo by the LOETB's Janice O'Brien, Rory's Travel Club giving tips. The health screening checked 97 people at the first event last year and we hope to top that," he said.