Must be tough, being an ageing pop star. Nothing to do all day but plot grand follies on which to lavish your lolly. Hippy folk oldster Dononvan seems determined to enjoy his quasi-retirement in serene north Cork. Certainly, money doesn't seem to be an object.
At the Berkeley Court Art Dinner on Wednesday night he was holding forth with wife Linda Leitch on his plans to open an exclusive New Age healing centre in his rectory home near Mallow. Apparently, the idea is to create something along the lines of nearby Liss Ard cultural centre. The Berkeley was choc-a-bloc with business and art figures doing their bit to support west Kerry art hive, Cill Rialaig, an abandoned village now reconstituted as a retreat for artists. Heavy spenders included Black Tie MD Niall O'Farrell, leading a consortium that bought a painting by Clare artist Catherine Kingcombe for £5,000, and Unislim boss Agnes McCourt who came away with a piece by Northern Ireland artist Brian Ballard.
Other notables included Christopher Pollard, OBE, and his wife Vivienne, flush after the sale of their Palma hotel and Prime Time presenter Miriam O'Callaghan. Mistress of ceremonies was Cill Rialaig founder Noelle Campbell Sharpe, decked out in verdant Celtic druid garb (don't ask) and seen dragging passers-by to Catherine Kingcombe's piece: a portrait of Sharpe and a circle of chums, including gossip madame Terry Keane.