Silver Dinner- a glittering event

 This year's annual Silver Dinner was hosted at Swifts, that extraordinary mansion in Darling Point with it's commanding views over Sydney Harbour. Swifts may well be the most valuable property in Australia. It was built in 1875 by Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth, the beer baron and is now owned by the Moran family of nursing home fame. With it's 6 acres of land, approximately 9 building blocks it's hard to estimate it's value. being National Trust listed it cannot be changed so development is off the books.
And with it's own ballroom and band stand in the garden it's the perfect location for a swell party. The Silver Dinner, the brainchild of Skye Leckie (above left) in a gold dress has raised $Millions for the Children's Hospital over the years.

Scenes for a party:

A new women's cancer charity is launched

Marie Sutton*Tim Gilbert*Merle Finkel*Julie Singleton

 Charity Ambassadors and supporters gathered at a private home in Darling Point to hear Ovarian Cancer survivor Merle Finkel describe her battle with the deadly disease. Mrs Finkel is the Director of the newly formed Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation (AGCF) which hopes to raise awareness and funds needed to fight ovarian cancer which is often referred to as "the silent killer" due to the difficulty diagnosing symptoms.

Ms Finkel was diagnosed 4 years ago has been through a series of chemotherapy sessions. She became determined to inform other women about the importance of regular pap smears and sees the launch of the AGCF as a fitting tribute to her friend Senator Jeannie Ferris who passed away earlier this year from the disease.

Among the Ambassadors who hope to raise awareness and donations are Marie Sutton , Channel 9 'Today' reporter Tim Gilbert, Julie Singleton, actress Carmen Duncan who is appearing in the new musical Anything Goes, fashion designer Camilla Freeman-Topper and comedienne Jean Kitson.

                         right : Jean Kitson & Carmen Duncan


For more information go to the AGCF website here

Out In The Open

It's been the gossip of the town but at last week's Silver Party mega millionaire John Symond finally appeared in public with his new girlfriend Amber Keating.

Amber & 'Aussie' John

Keating is the soon to be ex-wife of Patrick Keating, handsome son of former Prime Minister Paul Keating and when the Shuttle attended their wedding at St Mary's Cathedral in 2002, it was regarded as the match of the year.
 Patrick is now living with fashion identity Penny Hunt and the pair are expecting a baby.
(right : Amber & Patrick at their 2002 wedding)
Last Thursday at the fundraiser for the Sydney Children's Hospital the affection between the pair was obvious when John who walked up the driveway in the pouring rain spotted Amber who was waiting for him and the pair embraced.
Two weeks ago Amber was also on hand when Aussie Loan's John gave away his son Stephen Symond who married his partner Ed Smith in a civil ceremony in the garden of Symond's $60M Darling Point mansion.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Kerry Jones' circle of  friends is rapidly widening if the celebrations at her 57 room Darling Point mansion Swifts are anything to go by.

Shuttlers may recall we have written before about the parties, antique fairs, conferences, product launches and charity fundraisers that have been happening at the rate of two a week at the 3.5 hectare property in the suburb.

On Wednesday Fox International threw a roaring bash with former Beverley Hills 90210 star Jason Priestly as the guest of honour to celebrate the launch of his new series Call Me Fritz that airs on Fox's FX channel later this year. 150 guests rolled up to the house where they found roulette and backgammon tables, a supply of cigars from a humidifier, a whisky sampling bar and plenty of cocktails and champagne.

The Shuttle's spy disguised as a Darling Point senior citizen reports the noise was deafening especially when Priestly took to the microphone and appeared to scream for a full five minutes at the top of his lungs.
 Kerry Jones has denied the parties are commercial events and says they are functions held for 'friends' including two wedding receptions last month.

Even more disturbing was an odd event held last weekend and our spy dusted of her Box Brownie and supplied these snaps taken from her bedroom window on the 11th floor of a neighbouring block of apartments that overlooks Swifts gardens.

" I don't know what was going on " says our pensioner" but the guests appeared to be firing guns at each other and then police arrived to round them up and lay them handcuffed on the ground. I'm told it was some sort of game but the fake gunshots scared the hell out of my cat who disappeared into a  wardrobe for 2 hours and the racket went on all day"

Kerry Jones, the daughter of nursing home tsar Doug Moran (both left) who lives at Swifts with her extended family has called the claims that the house is operating as a defacto reception centre as "mischievous" but that has enraged the already seething residents of the genteel suburb who in a flurry of letters to the local Wentworth Courier newspaper demanded Jones retract the statement.

Another who wishes to remain anonymous but lives beside Swifts said " she must think we are stupid if she thinks we believe all these people attending parties are friends. I've counted over 2000 guests in the last 3 months".

And indeed Mrs Jones has claimed the party for Jason Priestley and Fox International was a “private party” for her friend, Fox International Channels managing director Karin Simoncini.

On Tuesday at the launch of the Australian Fashion Walk of Style in Oxford Street, the Shuttle button-holed a Woollahra councillor who refused to comment on the resident's claims but did say "it's all coming to a head".

Now it seems the Jason Priestly party was the last straw and on Friday Woollahra Council's planning office said they would take legal action in the Land & Environment Court unless Kerry Jones gave a written undertaking that she would hold no further events at Swifts without council planning permission. Mrs Jones has responded angrily and said she is thinking of cancelling an upcoming charity fundraiser in March for the Cornucopia Committee.