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A gracious and splendid evening was had by all at the magnificent residence of Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley and Mr. Smith Bagley in a beautiful location by the sea. It was a perfect Nantucket summer evening; warm with a gentle sea breeze. Over 300 guests enjoyed the views, the wonderful food and the Irish music played on classical instruments.

The Co-chairs were Maureen Orth and Suzanne Wright who did a splendid job in making this event truly special. A big thank you to all our wonderful guests. Thank you all for your support. We hope to see you all next year!

The honored guest was Bronagh Hinds from CAMP

Community Advocate Mentor Program (CAMP) of the International Women's Democracy Center. The goal of CAMP is to develop and strengthen the public policy, advocacy and lobbying skills of established women leaders from Northern Ireland. The new political arrangements in Northern Ireland have dramatically altered the environment in which community-based leaders seek to influence policy and policy-makers. Therefore, the development of new skills and strategies is critical for community-based leaders to effectively operate and fulfill the mission of their respective organizations. CAMP is an innovative five-year program designed to train 100 women leaders how to affect public policy, how to lobby the recently elected legislators of their new assembly, and how to manage issue-based campaigns. The International Women's Democracy Center was established to strengthen women's global leadership through training, education, networking and research with a focus on increasing the role of women in politics, policy and decisionmaking within their own governments.

Report from our visiting intern from Co. Tipperary, Ireland

On Saturday July 31st some 300 guests gathered at Innisfree, the magnificent home of Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley and her husband Smith Bagley in support of The American Ireland Fund’s annual Nantucket Celebration. The home boasted spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and the soft ocean breeze provided some welcome comfort from the scorching heat of the day. The atmosphere was terrific and it wasn’t long before the garden was filled with guests enjoying the wonderful food and drink on offer while beautiful traditional Irish music played in the background.

In keeping with the informal atmosphere of the evening the speeches were short and lighthearted. Elizabeth Bagley welcomed everyone to her beautiful home before introducing the President and CEO of The American Ireland Fund, Kingsley Aikins. Kingsley thanked everyone for coming and complimented the crowd on their glamorous turnout before introducing Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chairman of The American Ireland Fund, who was enjoying her first visit to Nantucket.

The evening’s Co-chairs Suzanne Wright and Maureen Orth spoke about their commitment to The International Women’s Democracy Center and introduced a colleague; Barbara Ferris. Barbara outlined some of the wonderful work that The International Women’s Democracy Center does before inviting the evening’s honored guest Bronagh Hinds of CAMP to say a few words. Bronagh had traveled from Northern Ireland to be at the event. CAMP, a program set up by The International Women’s Democracy Center is designed to train female leaders from Northern Ireland how to affect public policy, how to lobby effectively and how to manage issue-based campaigns. Bronagh received a rousing round of applause for her passionate and personal speech.

As dusk began to fall and guests started to filter out it was clear that a terrific evening was had by all. It was a privilege for me to have had the opportunity to attend and participate in this year’s annual Nantucket.

~Lorraine Ryan