And Shaun O’Connor, from Territory Energy, was the biggest individual fundraiser in the ACT.

Both received special trophies from RSPCA ACT chief executive officer Michael Linke at its Weston shelter this week.

Mr Linke said Team Jim Jam had raised almost $20,000 – about 10 per cent of the entire ACT tally of close to $200,000 – and Mr O’Connor had raised $1500.

Both teams had made a phenomenal effort.

“The amount of work we will be able to do with that money for the RSPCA is really significant,” he said.

Mr O’Connor, of Hall, attended the ceremony with his daughter Nellie, five.

He said as a business owner and animal lover he was more than happy to contribute to a cause close to his heart.

Team Jim Jam raised the money in honour of 26-year-old Canberra beauty therapist Jamie-Leigh Lynch who died in a car accident in March. The local team was led by her parents Sheila and Mark while a Gold Coast team also contributed to the effort.

“It is difficult to find the right words to express our heartfelt thanks and deep gratitude to all of the members of Team Jim Jam Canberra and Gold Coast for their wonderful support in honour of our beautiful daughter Jamie-Leigh,” he said.

“This trophy belongs to all team members and all who donated.”

The donations included many from overseas thanks to Mr Lynch’s connections from when he used to work for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“I have no doubt Jamo will be, with extreme pride, looking down on us all today with a beaming smile and giving us the thumbs up. She would be ecstatic knowing that the money raised will be used for the help and care of oh so many animals,” he said.

We issued a challenge in March for Canberra galleries to host a show by former Canberran Paul McDermott, the artist and ex-member of the Doug Anthony All Stars.

He had only just started to show his artwork interstate and, when asked, was more than agreeable to an exhibition in his home town.

The M16 Artspace in Griffith came to the party and we hear things are well and truly in train for McDermott’s art debut in the national capital.

The exhibition, called The Dark Garden, will be held at M16 Artspace, from September 12-29.

“I met with Paul the other day to discuss his plans and, as should be expected, it sounds like no exhibition we have had here before,” exhibitions coordinator Emily Casey told us.

“He wants to create an atmosphere for his work to be displayed in. Visitors will enter Paul McDermott’s little world, and be engulfed by the installation and soundscape, with work on the walls, ceiling and floor.”

McDermott (pictured) has given Casey a description of what to expect: “The Dark Garden is a nouveau-colonial vision of a post-apocalyptic future: a bleak black Eden, where mega-fauna battle and consume other absurd hybridised ‘lusus nature’ “. Sounds intriguing.

Parliament House wasn’t the only iconic building celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The Hyatt Hotel Canberra also turned 25 – on Tuesday – after opening in its new incarnation on July 23, 1988.

The building was originally opened in 1924 as Hostel Canberra and later Hotel Canberra to accommodate politicians and visitors to the national capital. The Hotel Canberra closed in 1974, and was converted to government office space. It then re-opened in 1988 as Canberra’s then only five-star hotel, under the management of Hyatt International and after extensive renovations.

The official re-opening of the hotel – by former prime ministers Gough Whitlam and John Gorton – was cause for great excitement at the time. For none more than Peter and Sonia Karouzos, of Campbell, who were the first couple to have their wedding reception at the Hyatt.

They were married at the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Kingston. The couple and their 300 guests then celebrated in the Federation Ballroom on July 30, 1988, one week after the Hyatt’s opening. They were married at the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Kingston.

“It was just beautiful,” Sonia remembered. “Obviously the building was there, but there wasn’t anything like that in Canberra. When the building opened, they’d done such a beautiful job on the renovations. We felt very privileged.”

Sonia, an interior designer, and Peter, an IT consultant, have some treasured wedding photos posed around the Hyatt. She now

laughs about the “huge shoulder pads” in her dress – it was the 1980s. The coat/cape part of the dress was made into a christening gown which she used for each of their three children, Zoe, now 19; Dean, 16, and Naomi, 14.

And, yes, the Karouzos are returning to the Hyatt on Tuesday to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

Hyatt Hotel Canberra general manager Mikael Svensson said it was a pleasure to welcome the couple back.

“We have given our presidential suite to them for an evening as this was the suite which they stayed in on the wedding night,” he said.

The hotel will also have a 25th anniversary dinner on September 5. Limited seating is available so the word is to book early.