Kitty Neeson glanced around the RHA Gallery where on Thursday the Kilkenny Irish Beer Cream of Irish Awards were held. "I've never been to a luncheon before," she declared with a laugh. "I am very much looking forward to it."
It was the third such awards ceremony, held to recognise the achievements made by Irish artists across a broad spectrum of areas.
Kitty had travelled from Ballymena with her niece, Geraldine Colfer, and was here to collect a film award on behalf of her son, the actor Liam Neeson. "He was such a quiet lad, I never knew it would turn out like this," she said.
Kitty Neeson exudes style. She talks in what she calls her "horsey voice" listing the names of Irish designers and saying they are the best in the world. She is a no-nonsense woman. "I love people. I love talking. Not like Liam. He got his quiet ways from his father." In the early days, Kitty wasn't sure what career her son would choose. "He went to university but that didn't suit him," she said. "I didn't know much about it when he started acting. All I know is that he works very hard."
At the moment her son is working very hard on the new version of Star Wars in London. "He is exhausted every night," said Kitty. She visits him regularly at his sprawling farm in upstate New York. "I have the loveliest daughter-in-law," she says of Liam's wife, Natasha Richardson. "And beautiful grandchildren." In some ways, her son's stardom has changed her life: "I get these Yanks coming just to stare at my house," she says. She was "dying" to get reacquainted with Michael D. Higgins, who had flown in from a conference in Sweden to receive an award for Special Contribution to the Arts. On The Town was seated at a table with no less than four Award winners; Ciaran Sweeney, Fashion, Derek Spiers, photography, Remco de Fouw and Rachel Joynt, Sculpture and Michael Arbuckle, Multimedia. They received their silver awards from Tim Kelly, Marketing Director of Guinness Ireland. Comedian Barry Murphy, who has just received an award for his advertisements for Fanta, hosted the event. Also attending were members of the judging panel, Irish Times film critic Michael Dwyer and photographer Colm Henry. Models Sonia Reynolds, Marie Staun- ton and Kate Omar also attended. Kitty Neeson, meanwhile, was savouring her very first luncheon sitting beside a beaming Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina Coyne: "I'm enjoying every minute," she said.