Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
LEFT: Joseph A. Matalon and wife Bernadette (left) hang out with businesswoman Lorna Myers.
RIGHT: Prime Minister Bruce Golding (centre) takes a break from running the country to party with friend Jennifer Lim (third left) at her birthday party. Celebrating with the birthday girl are (from left) German Ambassador Jurgen Engel, Thalia Lyn, Cindy Breakspeare, Ana Martha Engel and Lisa Johnston.

Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner Writer

My dears, it's simply the new and fabulous trend in parties these days; mega parties are out and small, intimate soirees are most definitely in.

A no-brainer here, as not only are smaller dos more manageable, they are by far more comfortable an outing, as they afford both hosts and guests far more quality time with each other, and thus guarantee a more rewarding social experience.

The opposite is packing in hordes of people to make up numbers, and run the risk of including the 'dull and ignorant', as even they too have their stories. No one wants to spend the night being regaled by the nothingness they often feel compelled to share.

Anyway, there are some people who are more relaxed throwing a party, reception or soiree in honour of someone else, rather than being the belle at their own ball. One such individual is socialite extraordinaire Jennifer Lim.

Always more comfortable when throwing her weight behind a charitable cause, or even that of hosting a fund-raiser for her favourite political candidate and/or party as one of Kingston's leading socialites, the ever charming Lim is not only a social tour de force, she is quite the social lioness.

When it comes to celebrating her accomplishments or milestones, however, she is more than a little reticent in breaking out the champagne. And this is exactly how it should be.

A Kingston celebration

On Thursday, October 23, however, it was the charming belle's birthday. Now, faced with the option of jetting off for a weekend of celebrations or even heading out of town for the relaxed atmosphere of the island's north shores, the lady of the Dillsbury manor was prevailed upon by close friends to make it a Kingston celebration.

So she opened up the doors of her very grand upper St Andrew residence and hosted a most delightful soiree that proved not only a social masterpiece, but a fabfest beyond and above the ordinary.

To begin with, the affair was in keeping with her understated sense of style, and with it being an intimate do restricted to a critically handpicked shortlist of friends, y'all know we are talking charming here!

Hosted at the poolside of her elegant home, the evening took on and maintained an air of convivial charm and warmth that boasted an ease of manner that made for a most welcoming and inviting atmosphere. And with some simply divine music from the turntables of musicologist Ivor Smith of Kool FM fame filling the air, y'all know we are talking easy like Sunday morning.

Royal treatment

With one of Kingston's leading waiters, in fact, the preferred waiter to the upper echelons of fab society in attendance, in the personage of Richard Douglas, ably assisted by the staff of the Lim household, guests were treated royally as the hallmark of the service offered by Douglas, to those whom he serves, is his seemingly uncanny ability to recall the favourite libation of all whom he encounters, and to present each guest with his/her preferred drink upon arrival at a do.

And with the famed Maree Sigurdsson doing the culinary honours, y'all know we are talking fab like that, and nothing but, making for hot event of elegantly relaxed proportions and fab to its very core.

Among the notables out sharing in the warmth and merriment were Prime Minister Bruce Golding; junior minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Daryl Vaz; Spanish Ambassador to Jamaica Jesús Silva and wife, Sara; German Ambassador to Jamaica Jurgen Engel and wife, Ana Martha; Joe Matalon and wife, Bernadette McKinley Matalon; Abdul Marzouca; the debonair raconteur Robert MacMillan and Candy DePass; the tres elegant Lorna Myers; noted attorney George Fatta; Capt Michael Lyn and his fab wife, Thalia Lyn; Charles Johnston and his tres fab wife, Lisa; the esteemed Dr Don Christian; Capt Rupert Bent and his wife, the beautiful Cindy Breakspeare; and the birthday girl's son, Nicholas McAdam and daughter the charming Elizabeth McAdam; plus others.