Sue and I went to a reception in the Kilkenny Corporation Council Chamber in the Tholsel on Thursday night held by Mayor, Malcolm Noonan, to honour the Cartoon Saloon for its remarkable achievements.
Didn't they get an Oscar nomination this year?!
And, rightly, it was also to celebrate that they have not been attracted by the bright lights of Hollywood - or wherever it is that is the Mecca of cartoon making - but have elected to stick to their roots in Kilkenny where they provide substantial employment and, let's face it, massive prestige to a small provincial city.

Their success is a delightful story of opportunities being offered and taken; encouragement; talent; as well as respect, belief and loyalty, running to and fro, between generations.

But for me, finding myself in the Council Chamber, there was another dimension.

Referring back to the sentiments expressed in my last post, imagine the delight when 'the enquiry' was to refurnish the Council Chamber of the city, in the hinterland of which I live?

The brief was to create a situation in which the Mayor and his officials could be seated facing the aldermen and councillors, as well as the press, and members of the public attending.
It was a further requirement that the space should be capable of being cleared for functions or turned into a banqueting hall.

This was my solution.

I created a permanent table on a slightly elevated dais to one side of the room for the Mayor and officials and then a series of tables, with slightly angled ends to each table top. This to enable them, when put together end to end, to form a 'horseshoe' in front of the Mayor's table thus giving each elected member direct line of sight with the Mayor and his officials.
The elected members tables, when ranged individually against the walls of the chamber, read as a series of independent 'console' tables or, if every second table was turned through 180 degrees, their 'angled' ends then enabled a 'straight' table to be formed for 'banqueting' purposes.

The Mayor's Table on its dais was deliberately designed as a permanent, immovable item to signify the importance and dignity of those who were to be seated at it and the enduring nature of the position of Mayor in the city and the community.

The angled ends of the elected members tables.