Charity in style:Helping the Children's Cancer Fund at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin is always a good thing, of course, but helping the fund while enjoying one of the year's biggest fashion shows over fine food and sparkling champagne is both a good thing and a good time.
Frock'n'Roll takes place on Friday, September 28th at the Round Room in the Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin 2, and will be hosted by Brendan Courtney and Louise Redknapp from UK Style's The Clothes Show. Erin O'Connor will be on the catwalk to help show off collections from Giles Deacon, Alexander McQueen and Julien McDonald, as well as key looks from Dundrum Town Centre's fashion retailers. There will be a charity auction, music from Neosupervital and an afters party at Renard's Nightclub.
Tickets cost €150 - or €1,500 for a table of 10 - and includes a champagne drinks reception and four-course dinner including wine, with all money raised going to the fund. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1890-507508 or 01-4096300, or see www.dundrum.ieor www.cmrf.org.
Jazz club
Jacinta Crowley-Long - Jazz to her friends - doesn't paint dogs and horses from fanciful memory. She is surrounded by them in ever-growing numbers at her 18th-century rectory on the Wicklow/Carlow border. One of Ireland's foremost contemporary canine and equestrian painters, she has previously been selected to exhibit at the prestigious International Exhibition of Equestrian Art at both Christie's and the Mall Galleries in London and in 2005 she won a gold medal at Le Salon de la Rochelle, which is run by Camille Pissarro's grandson in France. A former lecturer at UCC, her work is included in many corporate and international collections. Tomorrow, an exhibition of her work opens at the Forge Gallery in Collon, Co Louth. It may make you lust after the country life. For details see www.forgegallery.ie.
Letting in the light
Great coup for Irish Museum of Modern Art and the RIAI to have lured the internationally renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando to Dublin, where he will give a talk tomorrow afternoon at the RDS. Best known for the Church of Light in Osaka, he rarely appears in public and over 3,000 people applied for tickets. What will he think of Dublin development, we wonder . . . and might he inspire a project here? www.tadaoando.com
Test of time
Impressively textured, so they often appear almost time-worn, and often produced on large canvasses, Roddy Moynihan's paintings are immediately arresting. Achieving a master's degree in archaeology before becoming a full-time painter, the Dubliner often reaches into early historical imagery but gives them renewed freshness. "I am conscious of and influenced by, the vast length of 'tradition' of art," he says. "From modern day, back, not just to the Renaissance, but further, to the early Christian carvings, the prehistoric cave paintings and beyond to the earliest painted pebbles and incised bone and stone artefacts of the Palaeolithic." The results are stunning and can be seen at his current solo exhibition at the Seahorse Gallery, Balbriggan. www.roddymoynihan.com Shane Hegarty
Wrapped up
The Steam Museum at Lodge Park in Straffan, Co Kildare will once again host Diana Cooper and Sarah Guinness's annual cashmere mill sale on Wednesday, September 26th from 10am to 7pm, and on Thursday September 27th from 10 am to 4 pm. Men's and women's cashmere and lambswool knitwear will be marked down by up to 50 per cent, alongside a good selection of scarves, hats, socks and pashminas. Get there early, if you can, as the accessories usually fly. It's an excellent place to pre-empt December panic: bring a friend, call into Barberstown Castle for afternoon tea and make a proper outing of it. Inquiries 046-9242455. Patsey Murphy
Hitting the heights
To celebrate Positive Ageing Week (September 28th to October 6th), Age Action's Positive Ageing photographic exhibition will be staged at House 29, Merrion Square, Dublin 2, with 30 images that prove that age is no barrier to living an action-packed life. Included in the exhibition is this prize-winning image by Joanne Walsh, showing her mother, Paula, and grandmother, Ann, at the summit of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.
Flavours of Italy
The tree-lined section of Quinsboro Road in Bray has a real neighbourhood vibe, helped no doubt by the friendly cafe called Gusto Italiano, with tables indoors and out. We found locals happily sprawled outside chatting and reading newspapers on a recent Saturday afternoon. Its proprietors, Antonio and Rita Pinchera, originally from Monte Casino between Rome and Napoli, clearly know their coffee beans from their borlotti beans and have a number of certificates on the wall to prove it. Meseta coffee from Bologna is their preferred brand. One regular patron described Antonio as a coffee sommelier. Milkshakes and cocoa flavoured with everything from rum to chilli pepper are also on the menu. But be sure to look downstairs at the range of artisan pastas, biscuits, beans, tomatoes, sauces, antipasti and olive oils on offer. They are imported from Italy directly by the Pincheros and are both superior and reasonably priced. You could go for a cup of coffee and end up stocking your larder. Gusto Italiano is at 5A Quinsboro Road, Bray. Patsey Murphy
Kids on tour
Heaven on Earth is the guide I'd love to have had when my children were young, even if only for armchair travel. Written by Sarah Siese and published by St Christopher's Publishing in London, it's all about magical holidays for kids, about the world's best family holidays from hunting in Alaska to climbing in Morocco or sightseeing in New York. The book is divided into different sections with titles such as "Beach", "Chill & Thrill", "Magical Mystery", "Safari" and "Snow", and there's a useful list of tips for travelling with children and comparison charts of eleven airlines. The only Irish entry is Ballymaloe House which is described as "deliciously ramshackle". To complete the book Siese enlisted the help of a team of well-respected travel writers and her motto is that "little things please little minds". She also offers advice on what to ask when booking a hotel such as ratio of staff to children etc. www.holidaysfromheaven.com Deirdre McQuillan
Slings and babywear will feature in this weekend's Everything for Baby and Kids Show at the National Show Centre in Cloghran, Swords, Co Dublin. Entry fee is €5 per adult. 10am-6pm today and tomorrow