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RUSTLING up someone to open your exhibition can be a tricky task in August everyone's simply away

RUSTLING up someone to open your exhibition can be a tricky task in August everyone's simply away. The Crafts Council's Rhoda MacManus thought she, had hit the celeb jackpot for its anew exhibition, called Table+Top, which opened last night at the Powerscourt Centre in Dublin.

Sometime Cork dweller and star of Murder She Wrote Angela Lansbury was all set to perform the opening ceremonies when she realised the date clashed with her return to California. Angela initially made contact with the council because, as a fan of Irish crafts, she wanted to track down someone who could make a patchwork walls hanging or tapestry big enough to cover a rather bare wall in her Cork holiday home.

In the end, BBC man Sean Rafferty stepped into the breach and performed the brief opening ceremony.