THEY flowed into Dublin's River Club on Wednesday night and poured out many hours later after guests had finished toasting, Clannad manager and Manchester United supporter Dave Kavanagh, who was celebrating his 40th birthday. It was midnight before the ebullient Mr Kavanagh got around to blowing out the candles on his cake, a specially commissioned affair from Jill Aston which featured a full length bar and stopped clocks.
Looking as though he'd managed to stop a few clocks himself, the chief celebrant welcomed a diverse range of guests, many of whom had come to the club after dining in Giovanni Cafolla's newly opened and instantaneously popular restaurant Trastevere, in Temple Bar Square. The crowd toasting Mr Kavanagh included Van Morrison and Michelle Rocca, the latters' cousin Christine McKinney, Sarah Owens, Paul McGuinness John Meara and actor/writer Adrian Dunbar.
Enniskillen born Mr Dunbar has spent the last week back in Ireland travelling around the country with Men Behaving Badly's Neil Morrissey and producer David Heffernan. This wasn't just a holiday, however, as Messrs Dunbar and Heffernan are currently working together on a film set in contemporary Ireland called The Way of the Cross still at the development stage, the hope is that this thriller will be made next year.
And speaking of films, on Wednesday night the Variety Club of Ireland's energetic Joanne Byrne was full of, talk about the forthcoming premiere of Nixon, on Friday, March 8th, in aid, of her charity and Beaumont Hospital. There aren't to many details confirmed about this yet but word is that director Oliver Stone will be in attendance together with the lead stars Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen, making it an unmissable occasion.