The annual gala event at Barretstown Castle, Fantasia '98, took place with its usual panache last Sunday. At £250 a head, this is not a cheap night out, but it is usually a memorable one when celebs big and small get on stage with kids big and small, who have taken part in some of the annual events for seriously ill children run by the Barretstown Gang Camp at the castle during the summer.
This year the name at the top of the guest list was the prolific singer/songwriter Carole King, who at the start of the evening meant a lot to the guests and by the end of the night, when she led them in a rousing rendition of Locomotion, meant a lot to the kids. King, who was staying at the Merrion Hotel and pronounced it "fabulous", got involved with Barretstown through her friendship with singer Paul Brady, long a supporter of the charity. As well as the all-singing, all-dancing version of Locomotion, she also got up on stage with Brady and another friend, Bill Whelan, composer of Riverdance, who proved he can still tickle the old ivories with the best of them.
Another surprise guest who went down a storm was actor John Hurt, who did a mean impression of a porcupine in a sketch that also starred actors Barry McGovern, Victoria Smurfit (an unlikely Cinderella) and Shaun Scott. Considering the adage about never working with children or animals, the whole party went remarkably well despite a worrying moment when Larry Goodman was advised to land his helicopter in a field with grazing horses. Celia Larkin put in an appearance as a personal guest of Jenny Bolger, who is the chairwoman of the Fantasia committee.
Actor Patrick Bergin also drove up from Tipperary unexpectedly and went home with a lighter wallet, having successfully bid for a week in the Tinarana health farm in Tipperary and a dotie child-size Alfa Romeo Spider. It must have been the result of sitting at the table of Robbie Fox of Renards, who is remarkably good at parting people from their money for a good cause.