THERE'LL be no tea and sympathy next month when the cream of Irish society meet for their annual coffee morning in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation. Last year's "Cream of the Coffee Cult" bash at Fitzer's Cafe in the RDS was a frothing success, raising £2,000 for the Hospice, and organisers Robert O'Byrne, Marie Donnelly and Eithne Fitzgerald have already finalised the plans for this year's event over a cup of coffee, of course.
Meanwhile, tomorrow afternoon jeweller to the rich and the racing set, Matty Ryan, is hosting a Hospice Garden Party at his home in Thurles, and he has invited "everyone from the Marquis to the messenger boy" to join in and help raise funds. Mr Ryan is chairman of the Tipperary Hospice, and his spacious garden in the Town Centre will be filled with friends from Kildare to South Riding and all points in between. Guests will be served a refreshing glass of Pimms, and entertained by unlikely Irish pop star Richie Kavanagh, a man who's never short of aon focal eile or two.
Mr Ryan isn't saying a focal about who will be coming to his garden party, but since his close friends include Viscount Linley and his wife Serena Stanhope, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see a few princes rubbing shoulders with the punters, and you might well meet some Rosses, Harringtons and Dunravens among the guests. One person who definitely won't make it, however, is Viscountess Linley's mother, Virginia Viscountess Petersham. "Ginny's in Monte Carlo at the moment, and she won't manage to get here," says Matty. "She'll be very disappointed, because she's a big fan of Richie Kavanagh." So there won't be aon focal eile for the Viscountess this time - c'est la vie.