GERMANY’s Christoph Hess, who presented this year’s Dressage Ireland judges’ gala at Kildalton College on Saturday, was guest of honour at a pre-gala dinner in Carrick-on-Suir the previous evening.

Among those who sat down to dinner in the Carrick Hotel was Jean Mitchell, who is a longtime friend of Christoph. She was the one who persuaded him to take up his first role as an event judge at the international in Loughanmore in the early 1990s and they have since judged together at a number of internationals.

Jean travelled down from Hillsborough to Dublin with DI judges’ committee member Vanda Stewart, who then handed the driving duties over to David Lee.

The party included Stewart’s fellow committee members Bernie Foley, Bernie Webb, Donie McNamara and Lynne Cassidy plus Vida Tansey, who is staying on as a judge but is stepping down from her position as chair of the committee, and her predecessor in that role, Dermot Cannon.