YESTERDAY, Mary Kavanagh's inspired fund raising idea of getting together a group of women every December for a ladies' choice lunch once again added greatly to the coffers of the Irish Epilepsy Foundation. The idea is that 52 women pair off and take a table, then they each persuade men to stump up £75 for the pleasure of joining them for lunch.
Such is the persuasiveness of the women involved that there was absolutely no problem selling the tickets for the very long lunch at La Stampa. Some of the magnetic, women included Leonie Reynolds and Virginia Fortune, Clodagh Kean and her sister Rhona Hopkins, ex-model Barbara O'Reilly Hyland who has just finished her degree in photography, Deirdre Courtney and Louise O'Loughlin.
Cindy Cafolln, another hostess, said the lunch is the perfect male bonding outing for men who don't play golf: those who gamely turned, up included Robbie Woollen, the impossibly handsome Daryl Downey, Graham Beere, Louis Walsh, and Mark Kavanagh.
John Reynolds took time off for a rare lunch break - he's been supervising the final touches to the Red Box, his new music venue which will be up and running for the Neneh Cherry concert on December 10th.
