The Gazette 1995

DECEMBER 1995

GAZETTE

N E W S

Irish Solicitors' Bar Association London 1995 Charity Ball \f by Cliona O'Tuama* The Irish Solicitors Bar Association's sixth annual Charity Ball was held on Saturday 14 October, 1995. Once again the Ball wás held in the magnificent surroundings of the Dinosaur Hall at the National History Museum in South Kensington, London. This spectacular venue has proved so popular with our members and supporters that a change of venue would probably lead to a dramatic drop in attendance! The proceeds of the ball were donated to the NSPCC - the charity devoted exclusively to the problem of Child Abuse and deprivation. also the colour of the NSPCC's logo and was therefore appropriate on all fronts)! After an excellent dinner, I had the pleasant task of thanking all those who had contributed to the success of the Ball by taking tables or advertisements or by having donated money or items for the auction or raffle. Jan Moore, the chairman of Westminster NSPCC then made a short speech thanking me for having chosen the NSPCC as beneficiary. There then followed the star attraction of the Ball, the "grand charity auction".

I had been delighted when I had heard that Philip Lee, who is now running a European law practice in Dublin, and his wife Una Hand were coming to the Ball and I persuaded Philip to be the auctioneer. Philip was the person who had first suggested to me many moons ago in 1989 that Irish solicitors in London should run an annual event for charity and he and I had organised the first two Charity Balls together. It has indeed been a daunting task running the Balls since Philip's return to Dublin in 1990! Having worked in London for several years, Philip knew many of the people at the Ball and was the ideal auctioneer, being able to exhort everyone by name to increase their bids during his star performance! Due to the tremendous appeal of the NSPCC, many valuable and interesting items had been donated for the auction. Oliver Kehoe, one of the group present from Bank of Ireland, very kindly donated two stand tickets for the England v. Western Samoa match with Bank of Ireland hospitality included. By far and away the most popular item in the auction was a weekend's sailing in Dublin Bay which had been kindly donated by Adrian Lee, a London- based banker with JP Morgan, whose wife Jane McHugh is a very active committee member of the NSPCC.

Due to the tremendous success of the 1994 Ball, there was a flood of applications for tickets for the 1995 Ball. As "in previous years the evening began with a champagne reception, kindly sponsored by AIB Bank, who have always been generous supporters of the Association. During the reception we had a new item at the Ball, an "evening out tree". Many of the leading restaurants and hotels in London had donated dinner vouchers and tickets had been provided by theatres and cinemas. Anyone paying £20 received an envelope from the tree containing a dinner voucher or tickets. I had persuaded most of the leading Irish restaurants in London to donate dinner vouchers and the NSPCC committee members had kindly obtained the others. The items on the tree ranged from sets of cinema tickets to a voucher for a £150 meal at the London Hilton. The tree was stripped of all its envelopes very quickly and raised a startling £760. After the reception everyone flocked in to the stunning Central Hall of the Museum, at the centre of which is a huge dinosaur, which was at that point emerging from a mist (created by dry ice) bathed in a green light. (Green is

Philip Lee, Solicitor, and Cliona O'Tuama, President, Irish London Solicitors Bar Association, conducting the charity auction at the Association's Ball. European law barrister Conor Quigley, who, although based in London, hails from Belfast and is a frequent visitor to Dublin. Conor generously paid £1,000 for the pleasure of taking his friends aboard Adrian's boat "Janey Mac II". Dillon Gallery, a leading Irish art gallery in London, had very kindly donated a painting for the auction as publicity for their forthcoming modern Irish exhibition. This oil on canvas of the West of Ireland landscape by Brian Byrne, one of the gallery's most sought-after artists, fetched £900. Thanks to Philip's cajoling and not letting the hammer fall on any item until he had extracted the last pound, combined with the generosity of those present, the auction raised the truly amazing sum of £5,680! This was way beyond all expectations. Another fund-raising item was the raffle for which many valuable prizes Continued on page 357 349

The successful bidder in the end was