LAST Friday I travelled down to Adare to conduct a fundraising auction for Glenstal Abbey. Goffs auctioneers are regularly called into action for fundraisers and Henry Beeby was conducting an auction in Dublin the following night for the Jack & Jill Foundation where they were selling a whole lot of painted pigs.

The Glenstal evening was in the Dunraven Arms which is a hotel that has been at the top of its game for so long. Everything about the Dunraven Arms is a combination of good taste and good service and the proprietors, the Murphy family, are always on hand and are so smart that they would make James Bond look scruffy.