Friday, March 30, 2007

Cork Rose organises Butterfly Ball

Last weekend the very first Butterfly Ball took place in The Clarion Hotel - in aid of the Night Nurse Programme for the Irish Cancer Society. Cork Rose Trish Cotter, who is such a genuinely lovely girl, used her year in the spotlight to organise this ball, with the help of her family who basically became the ball's committee. Trish lost her Aunt Mary to cancer just a few months ago so the night was dedicted to her - and raised in the region of €10,000 for such a worthy cause. Now Trish is hoping it might become an annual event. As you can see from the photo below, Trish was looking radiant in a black and white dress which, if seen in all its full length glory, would remind you of a blue and white 'grecian urn' style gown once worn by Victoria Beckham. Anyway, I had an absolutely lovely night, where it was lovely to meet Trish again (I had met her along with all the other roses last August prior to the contest in Tralee). Her boyfriend Declan is also a lovely guy (good luck with the H-dip application by the way!) I was also seated alongside Margaret O'Sullivan from The Irish Cancer Society and her friend Trish Larkin plus we were joined by Collette O'Callaghan from the Radisson SAS Hotel (pictured with me below). Collette is seriously good fun on the dance floor... she could give Beyonce some lessons on bootylicious moves! And who wouldn't be moved to shake their hips to the Groove Orchestra - I can't speak highly enough of that band for such an occasion!
By the way, in case you want to make a donation the Cork details are as follows: Irish Cancer Society, 15 Bridge Street, Cork. Phone 021 4509918



Also last night I went to see Duke Special live in An Brog for the semi-final of Murphys Live 2007 - details in next blog posting!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Spring is in the air!

Isn't the weather really lovely at the moment? Daffodils are in my garden, signalling the arrival of spring... and I've even contemplated cutting the grass, now that we have had a few dry days... although I haven't quite committed myself to that task yet!
The clocks went forward last weekend and although it was a bit rough losing that hour in bed, (Sunday was quite a long day for me and Saturday had been a late night!) I am delighted at the thought of longer brighter evenings leading into my favourite time of year.... summer! OK, I'm getting ahead of myself here... we haven't celebrated Easter yet... although you could say I've been celebrating everyday with a sneaky store of Cadbury's Creme eggs! Ooooops, Lent isn't what it used to be....
The social life is still as busy as I can manage... and below are pics from the recent St. Patrick's Night Ball, hosted by the Lord Mayor at City Hall, to benefit a number of Cork charities. RedFM had a table at it - and below is Nuala and me... and Carol with her partner Peter. It was a great night and yet quite civilised; an alternative to the drunken shenanigans that can often be associated with the celebrations of our patron saint.


.....And I thought I'd lost this one... but it was in another file, silly me! It's Sam and Onoir from RedFM sales...

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

A quick Hello.
I won't be on-line again for a few days so thought I would post something... just so the ardent followers of the blog can carry out their 'first comment' race... may the best man or woman win!
Anyway, here is a pic from the COPE Foundation Ball at Rochestown Park Hotel last Friday night... this was taken after the meal, at which point I felt absolutely stuffed! Anyway, it was the 50TH Anniversary of the COPE Foundation - so a big congratulations to them.
Also this week I got along to the Everyman Palace Theatre to see 'Surviving Santa Ponsa'. I never saw the first installment 'Santa Ponsa Or Bust' and kind of wished I had... but there are a lot of Cork laughs to be had thanks to the Pophams 2!
OK, it's almost midnight... it's been a long day... time for the cocoa and slippers I think. Well even a social butterfly such as I, should have one night like that, right?

Monday, March 19, 2007

Dance Fever at UCC!

Hi all, hope you had a good Bank Holiday Weekend. It kind of passed me by because I was working the whole time... although with the weather taking a nasty turn for the worst, perhaps I didn't miss too much.
Anyway last week I had a fun time being a judge at a dance competition at the UCC Mardyke Arena. It was called 'Clubs Go Dancing' and it was along the same lines as 'Strictly Come Dancing', in that one half of each dance partnership was a member of the UCC Dance Club and therefore had loads of experience - and the other half (the men basically!) were members of other clubs and had never danced before. Five couples battled it out and were all to be commended for the amount of time and effort they had clearly put into rehearsing their routines. The eventual winners were Kevin McEoin and Sarahrose Murphy who gave a marvellous performance. They were certainly my favourite on the night, although I was also very keen on the ballet/contemporary routine from Mark Coughlan and Anja Dingman. Fair play to Mark for getting into tights!
Apart from the competition element, the Dance Club also put on a dazzling number of varied dance demonstrations which showed off all the talent which was clearly in adbundance.
My fellow judges and I were set up at our own table, ala 'Pop Idol' and such shows - and as well as filling out score sheets, we were also pounced upon by the MC to give our comments after each performance. One judge got booed by the audience at one stage - not me thankfully!
The other great aspect of the night is that all the proceeds went to a charity called SERVE, an initiative commited to tackling world poverty. This summer UCC Student Jean Noonan will travel to North East Brazil with a group of 20 others, where they will work in an underdeveloped community building houses and helping out in various projects. Each house costs approximately €2,400 to build and the plan is to build at least 25 houses... so best of luck to all involved!
Here are some pics of my fellow judges; first up me with Sinead Kennedy from RTE's 'Sattitude' TV programme....

Below is Rachel O'Mahony, founder and dancer with Diva *Star Promotions, with Peter Lynch, communications officer at UCC Students Union...

And here's Sinead again with the most colourful of the judges - Kitty, AKA Alternative Miss Cork!





Monday, March 12, 2007

Update at long last!

Hello all, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted! Doesn't time fly when you are crazily busy?
Valentine's Day has gone...Ditto Pancake Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day and Mother's Day is almost upon us... and sooner than we know it, it'll be Easter!
Anyway, I have gotten to a few good gigs over the past month. I was at a fundraising concert for the Special Olympics in City Hall. It was one that I thought wouldn't be my cup of tea with Cork Pops Orchestra, Cara O'Sullivan etc performing... I thought it would be a far cry from my rock and pop tastes. However, it was totally enjoyable. Fabulously presented by Evelyn Grant, it was a night of huge variety and the reception afterwards was a great chance to mingle.
Since then I've also benn to see The Blizzards in Cyprus Avenue, The Killers in the RDS, Dublin, Jodavino at The Savoy, Karen Egan at the newly re-furbished Half Moon Theatre and just last weekend, Mary Coughlan at the same venue. All were extremely enjoyable... so I've had a good run of nights out.
I am also mourning the closure of The Bodega. I was there on the closing night, thinking what a shame it is that I will never again have another drink or brunch in there, never again enjoy its unique atmosphere. Now, it is to re-open temporarily because the lads from the Roundy Bar have taken a temporary lease... which means I'll have to endure another 'closing night'! Seriously though, I think it is a huge shame that our entire city seems to be turning into a shopping centre (and this is coming from a girl who likes to shop!)