Having seen my late mother, Breege O'Connell, so wonderfully cared for in her last weeks by the wholly voluntary, non-profit St Francis Hospice in Raheny, I'm taking the opportunity of being in Dublin, with some musician friends from the South West of France, to try to raise some money for the Hospice.

We will play a gig in Grainger's Pebble Beach in Clontarf on Sunday the 21st of April - a mixture of Irish and French musicians calling ourselves Pol'Paddy.

There'll be craic and 'joie de vivre' on the night but we ask you to donate a few bob to support the Hospice and to help other families bid farewell to their loved ones in serenity and dignity.