It’s never a quiet time for Friends of Londiani but the next few weeks promise to be exceptionally busy as we promote and organise our role in the spectacular year-long Irish initiative called The Gathering. The Gathering Ireland 2013 is a celebration of all things Irish — and one of the things that Ireland is rightly celebrated for is its willingness to reach out to others across the world and support their efforts at self-improvement and development. For Friends of Londiani, a charity very much in that Irish tradition, the Gathering is the perfect opportunity to let even more people know about our work, to raise funds and — yes! — to have a good time. With that in mind we’d love to see you at out very own gathering at the Clarion Hotel in Cork on Saturday April 20th from 6.30pm. You can meet and chat with fellow FOL supporters from home and abroad, of course, but the FOL gathering isn’t only for those of us who already work with or support FOL. It’s open to anyone who wants to gather together with Friends of Londiani to celebrate, have fun and help others at the same time. Tickets are €55 per person and funds raised from the event will be used for health, education and water programmes in Kenya. Do come along — and encourage friends and family to buy tickets too. It promises to be a wonderful evening. There will be a riverside drinks reception and entertainment starting on the boardwalk and continuing with dinner and a DJ until late. Over the coming weeks we’ll be reminding you about the FoL event, chatting to the organisers and putting it all in the context of the Gathering itself in blogs leading up to the big night at the Clarion Hotel. In the meantime you can find out about the year-long celebration at thegatheringireland.com. You’ll also find the FOL event there, but to save the need for a search (there’s a lot on the site!) just click on http://www.friendsoflondiani.com/getinvolved.php?id=295. There’s an online ticket purchasing facility there and a fantastic poster that we really think gets over the message of celebration and support that the FOL gathering is all about. But the only way to truly find out about our gathering is to be there. We’re really looking forward to seeing you and your friends at the Clarion.