The Brisbane Garden Party : 15 August 2004

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Brisbane’s top corporate’s attended the event with colleagues, friends and family as well as numerous members of the Brisbane Irish Community which made for good fun and great charitable fundraising. Special guests on the day included Governor Sallyanne Atkinson AO, Chairman Charles Curran AO, Governor Peter Ryan, Governor Frank Curran, Councillor Judy Magub who represented the Mayor of Brisbane and Linda Lavarch who represented the Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie. We were entertained on the day by MC Andrew Slack who was forced to return to his previous occupation as schoolteacher in order to calm the ‘plenty of chitchat’! We were also kept amused by Rupert McCall, one time local lawyer who has moved on from that profession to become a highly entertaining poet and comedian who managed to incorporate the Athens Olympics, his trip to Ireland and Australian pride into quick witted poems and make everyone laugh at the same time.

As usual, one of the most enjoyable parts of the day were the auctions both Live and Silent where the competition became in some instances almost fierce with people trying to outbid each other! We were extremely lucky this year with some fantastic items to auction. They included weekends away, trips abroad, advertising packages, trips on yachts, Waterford Crystal, tickets to amazing shows, chic restaurant vouchers, beautiful books, golf days out, Rugby memorabilia, formula 1 jackets, stunning contemporary bowls, designer furniture and of course, the obligatory 10 cases of Guinness! The largest items were the Austrian Airlines/ Avis/ Dromoland and Ashford Castle trip to Europe which was purchased by Drs. Ailbhe and Frank Cunningham, The Buspak advertising and APN outdoor package which was purchased by Dr. John O’Donnell of the Mater Hospital and the trip on Yacht ‘Sydney’ purchased by Lex Heinemann of Ray White Rural.

However we cannot thank all our sponsors and those who got into the spirited act of bidding enough aswell as providing an afternoon of entertainment, they made up a very significant chunk of the fundraising.