I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting David Kelly, probably Ireland's greatest actor, at a reception yesterday. We were gathered in The Ark, Temple Bar, to celebrate the launch of Serious Fun, a newly published book in aid of the Barretstown, the charity which offers a fun programme of challenging activities designed to help children deal with the emotional trauma of serious illness.
David, looking dapper as always, was guest of honour at the pizza party and read excerpts from Serious Fun, which is full of stories and poems written by the children of Barretstown. He was joined on the day by RTE presenter Ryan Tubridy, who kept the children entertained - his humour crosses the generation divide!
Over delicious Domino's pizzas, there was a great buzz about the new publication from Gill & Macmillan, which is hoped to raise over 10,000. A hilarious mix of childhood humour, the reader really gets a feel of what it is like to enjoy Barretstown.
" In Barretstown it's fun to play, so many activities every day. Everybody comes from different places, and they all have a smile on their face. They all agree it's a fun place to stay. It's always been sunny and everything's funny - it's all dancey and everything's fancy and you don't need any money".
I congratulated David on his recent success as Grandpa Joe in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and also good news that he is to be honoured with a life time achievement award at the forthcoming Irish Film & Television Awards. I really got the impression that he was genuinely grateful for everything he has. But hey, he deserves it.
Serious Fun is available from leading book stores.
