(L-R): Geraldine Cassels, Luxembourg Rose committee; Cent Buttek representatives; Ambassador Peadar Carpenter;

On Thursday 5 July 2018, the Ambassador of Ireland to Luxembourg, Peadar Carpenter, held a summer reception at the embassy on Route d'Arlon in Luxembourg city involving representatives of the Irish business and social communities, as well as a number of other invited guests.

While most of the evening took the format of an informal reception, Ambassador Carpenter did take a few minutes to address the attendees. His brief address focussed on a recap of activities of the Irish community in the year to date, and announced that in 2019 he would also like to celebrate, in addition to St Patrick's Day on 17 March, St Brigid's Day on 1 February, which in 2019 falls on a Friday. For this, he will set up a small committee to plan how to celebrate the day.

Ambassador Carpenter also referred to the Rose Committee and its tombola for which it had raised €6,000 at this year's Rose Ball. Geralding Cassells, representing the Rose Committee, said that they were donating €1,500 to each of four charities - two in Ireland (St John's Ward at the National Children's Hospital in Crumlin; and a hospice in Co Kerry) and two in Luxembourg (Cent Buttek social shops and the Croix Rouge).

A representative from Cent Buttek explained that it operates three social shops, in Beggen, Bettembourg and Lamadelaine, with 230 volunteers and operates 6 refrigerated vans. It handles 680 tonnes of food annually, from non-perishables to fresh fruit and vegetables, to support 860 families representing 2,400 people. He stressed that all this investment has a price and was very thankful for the efforts of the Rose Committee and its generous donation.

Ambassador Carpenter also invited Jane Murray to talk about the Run in the Dark event she has been organising since 2014 in Luxembourg. She explained about Mark Pollock, who is blind and is paralysed following a fall, and whose Mark Pollock Trust raises money for spinal cord injuries research. The Run in the Dark event in 2018 will take place on 14 November and will, as in previous editions, raise money for the Mark Pollock Trust. In fact, the Luxembourg Run in the Dark will be one of 50+ such Runs in the Dark taking place that day throughout the world.

She also mentioned that she is talking with the Ireland Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ILCC) to organise an event with Mark Pollock himself, in Luxembourg.