As people drove up and parked in front of the ornate building – which was all lit up on the inside and adorned with strings of white lights on the outside – it looked very much like a Hollywood event.
Reporters waited with photographers and cameramen at the hotel entrance as guest after guest rolled up to the red carpet and were whisked inside for a photo session and champagne reception before sitting down to a superlative seven-course meal.
Although the night was billed as ‘A Tribute to Maureen O’Hara’, another Irish Hollywood star, Patrick Bergin, managed to take the movie legend by surprise when he presented her with the inaugural ‘Excellence Award’ in honour of a glittering career that has spanned more than six decades.
Maureen O'Hara Foundation
The events of Saturday, December 11th last – which included the formation of the Maureen O’Hara Foundation – were probably best summed up by the Foundation’s CEO, Mr Frank McCarthy, when he said: ‘My first reaction to the suggestion that we should host a black tie event, during a recession, the week before Christmas, was to laugh, but here we are.’
Everyone, who filled the hotel’s beautifully-decorated function room, laughed right on cue because the evening, from start to finish, was a joyous occasion with a palpable sense of pride in all that Maureen O’Hara has achieved, what she stands for, and how she has honoured Glengarriff by making it her home for the last forty years.
Maureen O'Hara Foundation
Comments