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Thousands attend annual Irish Redhead Convention in Cork

Rhea Reddy (8), from Balbriggan, at the Irish Redhead Convention in Crosshaven, Co Cork
Rhea Reddy (8), from Balbriggan, at the Irish Redhead Convention in Crosshaven, Co Cork Rhea Reddy (8), from Balbriggan, at the Irish Redhead Convention in Crosshaven, Co Cork

GINGER-haired people descended on a small village in Co Cork over the weekend for the seventh annual Irish Redhead Convention.

More than 5,000 people from across the globe attended the celebration in Crosshaven of all things ginger.

Billed as a "fun filled weekend of freckles and frolics", the event included ginger speed dating and a carrot-tossing championship.

The festival hailing those with strawberry-blonde hair began as a joke between two siblings, but has now turned into a major event run by 50 volunteers.

Among the festival highlights was a redhead-only parade through the village, a competition for the best ginger beard and the crowning of a new 'King and Queen of the Redheads'.

The convention also included a 'ginger jig', where people took part in the world's largest redhead ceili dance.

And for the first time the festival hosted the Mogo (Music of Ginger Origin) Awards, with public votes crowning winners such as US singer-songwriter Tori Amos.

Red hair is the rarest of hair colours and accounts for only 0.6 per cent of the global population.

Ireland is believed to have the second-largest proportion of ginger people in the world, with one in 10 having red hair.

Only Scotland is thought to boast a higher ratio at 13 per cent.

Over the years the Irish Redhead Convention has raised more than £25,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.