Ronan walks off to warble for the Pope
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Sunday Dec 4 2011
Ronan Keating can't be there. He is going to the Vatican to sing for the Pope.
Or is that to ask for forgiveness? I'm not sure. I'm talking about his brother Garry and wife Valerie Keating's annual Celebrity Ward Walk, now in its seventh year, on December 22 from 11am to 1pm at Crumlin Hospital in Dublin. Ronan has done it every year, but this year His Holiness calls. (Ronan hosted the Emerald and Ivy Ball in London for Cancer Research last night, while Keith hosted the annual charity ball at the Ritz Carlton in Wicklow.)
But Garry and Valerie needn't worry. They already have confirmed a whole host of my fave celebs -- Brian and Pippa, Brendan and Jenny O'Carroll, Dylan McGrath, Nick Munier, Lorraine Keane, Rosanna Davison, Lisa Fitzpatrick, Jackie Lavin and many of the players from the Leinster team.
Valerie, who is agent to lots of Irish stars, spent seven weeks in hospital before she had her son Dylan (who is now nine and healthy). She and Gary were so grateful that everything was okay they promised they would give something back. Two years ago she asked her friend Maresa Cagney at Heinz to sponsor the event. "They gave Crumlin a very generous donation which goes towards buying the children presents at Christmas. To mark this we now call the event the Heinz Celebrity Ward Walk at Crumlin Children's Hospital," Valerie told me, adding that this year was particularly difficult for herself and Gary "as in January our five-year-old son Josh was diagnosed with HUS and was very ill in Crumlin. He is great now. Thank God."
Thank God? That's presumably what Ronan will say to the Pope when they meet.
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