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GAZETTE
N E W S
DECEMBER 1995
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.
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
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.
The successful bidder in the end was
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
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