On the 9th of February the club was transformed to “La Scala” for “Opera Imaginaire”, a fun evening where we explored the world of Opera.

We were privileged to have Colman Morrissey, Opera Critic of the Irish Times, visit the club, at the invitation of Des Warren. Aided by his technical assistant Bill Ebrill, Colman presented a series of scenes from Opera classics. Some were well known to the audience, other scenes were less familiar, and some were pieces nobody had regarded as opera at all, such as “West Side Story”.

With the big screen and excellent sound, enabled as always by the great Jim Maher, it felt like the real thing, with the added bonus of Colman’s commentary and interesting anecdotes.
Prosecco and canapes were served by the able team of Sandycove waiters, and other helpers included Sheila Boland who greeted guests, and Gemma Kelly, Jayne Doran and Denise Hugh Jones who did a super clean up the following day.

Many members rose to the challenge of dressing up, opera style, for the evening, and the joint winners were Margaret Smith and Jeanne Hecksher-Doyle. Well done ladies!
The event could not have happened without Des Warren, who arranged and organised the evening, and I think it’s safe to say that this was the first, but not the last “Opera Imaginaire” at Sandycove.