No strangers, only lots of friends, at Lissadell
THERE are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met, said Sligo gadabout and no stranger to a certain Lissadell House — Mr William Butler Yeats.
Extending Yeats’s line a little further, there was a multitude of friends and friendly faces recently at the aforesaid spiritual home of beauty, Lissadell House in County Sligo.
The inimitable Constance Cassidy and her lovely daughter Elanor Walsh hosted — plus ca change — a suitably smart Ladies Lunch attended by 200 of Ireland’s most fabulous women who arrived in all their finery to gaze in wonderment at the beautifully refurbished new Lissadell.
Constance’s VBF barrister Tim Bracken prepared the lovely luncheon, which was greatly enjoyed — among many others — by the radiant Moya Coulson and her lovely sister Rosie, who were seen chatting to the incomparable Maria Mulcahy and her equally lovely sister Orna.
My Deep Throat in Yeats country also spotted in attendance the Mayor of Sligo Marie Casserly, Superintendent Mary Murray and the supremely swish Eileen Magnier, as well as Constance’s other lovely daughters Kate, Constance and Jane.
This is to say nothing of former Tanaiste Mary Harney, Judge Yvonne Murphy and UCD’s Niamh Brennan, wife of Michael McDowell.
The champagne, served by men to all these magnificent women, flowed with Niagara Falls splendour — not least because it was Lissadell’s own brand of champagne, flown-in all the way from France.
A terrible hangover was born?
If I’d known it was going to be that much fun, I’d have donned a frock and gone myself.
Be that as it may, the season starts in Lissadell today from 10am.