THIS week was a great one for gossip, with a few topics coming up more than once. As news came out that John and Ros Hubbard, casting directors of The Commitments and Evita fame are their Bloomfield Avenue home, a city mourned the end of an era of great parties. The Hubbards are selling their house as business means they are spending more and more time in London.
Daughter Amy Hubbard, who studied in Dublin, has just arrived back from working in the British Council in Hanoi, and is about to plunge back into the film world. Her brother Daniel has joined the family business and has just left Ireland after casting in Galway for This Is My Father, a film that is to star Aidan Quinn. He also casted in Dublin for Brian Sterner's A Kind Of Hush.
Meanwhile Jackie Rafter announced that she is to become a headmistress of St Trinian's. Before the parents among you rush to enrol your children, it should be noted that St Trinian's is a champagne bar and nightclub on Leeson Street and Jackie, who was formerly hostess of the River Club, is offering curriculum that includes cigar appreciation. She is celebrating her appointment tonight with a school dinner for a few pals including Brian McMahon of Dunnes Stores and actress Victoria Smurfit, Ryanair's Cathal Ryan, Celtic Heartbeat's Dave Kavanagh, Journalist Eamon Dunphy and Minima owner, Helen Kilmartin.
Catriona Ward will also be there, though she is a busy woman, organising the first Irish exhibition of prints and paintings by Ronnie Woods. Yes indeedy, Ron not only plucks a fine string with the Rolling Stones but is a bit of an expert at wielding a brush too. The collection will be shown on three floors above the Baton Rouge restaurant on St Stephen's Green and features portraits of friends, images from the Voodoo Lounge Tour and a piece inspired by the
Absolut Vodka bottle that will join similarly commissioned work by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring in New York.
Expect the launch at the start of July to be the celebrity bash of the summer with actors Daniel Day-Lewis Aidan Quinn, Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Bergin, photographer Perry Ogden, musicians Julian Lennon and Marianne Faithfull, milliner Philip Tracey and designer Laine Keogh all due to pop in.