SPRING BLOOMS AT GIRLS-SCHOOL GALA
Elmwood School was bursting with colours, lush foliage and eye-catching blooms on Saturday night because, as we all wait for spring to come, the all-girls private school in Rockcliffe decided to create its own version.
Its spring garden-themed gala drew a crowd of 185 parents, past parents, alumni and others to the benefit dinner and auction, held in the school gymnasium (only the basketball nets gave it away). Organizers were expecting to raise $140,000 to $150,000, with the bulk of those funds providing scholarships and bursaries to students in need.
“It’s amazing to see the community all coming together with one purpose, which is to support the school,” headmistress Cheryl Boughton said before singling out the school’s team of hard-working, committed volunteers.
The highest-profile lawyer these days, Donald Bayne — Mike Duffy’s defence lawyer — attended with his wife, Sheila Bayne, a former chair of Elmwood.
Seen from the corporate sponsors were WiLAN CEO Jim Skippen, Ernst & Young partner Gary Zed, and Star Motors owner Jeff Mierins, while Ottawa entrepreneur and gala patron Michael Potter was seen chatting with community leader Mark Sutcliffe.
There were 20 live auction items, including: a one-week stay at a luxury villa in Jamaica worth $30,000, a flight on Potter’s P-51 Mustang fighter plane, diamond earrings from Howard Fine Jewellers, an original Philip Craig painting from Koyman Galleries and private suites to watch the Sens, Ottawa Fury and Redblacks.
A SPOTLIGHT ON FOOLS AND THIRD WALL
The birthday of England’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, didn’t slip by without a proper celebratory toast led by British Deputy High Commissioner Tom Barry at a gathering held Friday with supporters of A Company of Fools, an Ottawa theatre troupe that performs Shakespeare in the park each summer.
Barry asked everyone to raise a glass in honour of the Bard’s 451st birthday, but not before first sharing his own experience of watching, as a youth, an outdoor summer production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at an old ruined abbey in Yorkshire, England. It was magical, he told them.
“It feels really great to welcome you all here for something I feel very passionate about, despite being an economist,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
The Fools’ wacky artistic director, Scott Florence, recited the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, plucking Zeynep Guzide from the crowd of 115 to stand up on a chair and be
his wig-wearing Juliet.
THEATRE CELEBRATES NEW ZEALAND TIES
In another example of cultural diplomacy in the theatre community, Third Wall Theatre held its annual gala dinner last Saturday to celebrate all things New Zealand. There as special guests were New Zealand High Commissioner Simon Tucker and his wife, Penny. The diplomat spoke about the close ties between his country and Canada.
“You put a Kiwi and a Canadian together in a room, and it doesn’t take very long before they’re getting on, as we say, ‘like a house on fire,’ ” said Tucker. Attendees included music guru Harvey Glatt and Brian Toller, past chair of the Community Foundation of Ottawa.
GOING BACK IN TIME FOR AT-RISK YOUTH
Honest officer, it was all completely legal.
The LeBreton Gallery in the Canadian War Museum was transformed to look like a speakeasy, where people used to drink bootlegged liquor during the Prohibition era, as part of this year’s Ottawa Gala theme: Bytown Basement. No password for secret entry was necessary, just a paid ticket. Hundreds of young professionals attended the recent gala, where black-tie was optional, chic mandatory. The evening is organized by volunteers, with proceeds helping at-risk youth.