Held on Thursday, 11th December, volunteers were arriving at dawn to The Intercontinental Hotel in Ballsbridge to prepare for the 18th Lords Taverners Ireland Charity Christmas Lunch.
By 12:00 noon the first guests began to trickle into the ante room for some pre meal drinks. By 12:30pm the place was buzzing and when the bell rang at 1.00pm the place was really hopping in anticipation of another great afternoon.
As everyone settled in, our Dobbo (Bryan Dobson), got matters under way. He paid tribute to our former great Taverner, the late Stan Mitchell, and he welcomed Stan’s son Robert who had put together a table of Phoenix Cricket Club legends in honour of his late Dad.
Then Dobbo interviewed Kate Reddy from The Emerald Rollers Wheelchair Basketball Team. They are the first women’s wheelchair team to represent Ireland on the International Stage. An honour to have them join us.
Lunch was served and noise levels rapidly increased as everyone tucked in to a sumptuous lunch with excellent wines. During the lunch our members and guests were busy bidding for all our silent auction items and yet again the numbers raised were ahead of expectations. There was also a great response to our annual raffle with our headline prize of a Super Smart HD TV.
As dessert was being devoured, our Honourary Auctioneer Heatley Tector took to the podium and the public auction commenced. As usual Heatley put on a tour de force and he raised over €15,000 in less than 20 minutes. A fantastic performance made possible only by the generosity of so many of our supporters. Heatley makes people want to bid he does such an enthusiastic job! He’ll be back again in 2026.
Finally, we had our entertainment which was provided by Oliver Callan and he didn’t disappoint. He had everyone smiling and gave us his usual update on our politicians. He made sure that the room was buzzing by the time he finished.
After the meal many lingered for a chinwag and others wandered into the ice bar where chat continued for quite a while. Another great day in December and thanks to all our sponsors and supporters and of course to Chairman Paul Farrell ably supported by Event Organiser Sharon Lewis, Ken Brennan and their band of volunteers. Hope to see you all again in December 2026. So far it looks like in excess of € 50,000 has been raised on the day!
Check out all the great pics and festivities in our Christmas Lunch 2025 Gallery here.
