60th Birthday Celebrations Week – Newsletter 5

Our 60th Birthday Celebrations Week has ended last Friday, 15 Nov 2013, with a gourmet seafood dinner. The feedback received from classmates during the week and afterwards showed that the Celebrations Week, like the 2011 Reunion, was a great success. The gala dinner, attended by Father Deignan and Principal So, was loved by everyone and so were the two side programs. Those who joined the China trip and/or seafood dinner were also impressed and overwhelmed by the fine and detailed arrangements as well as good value and choice of food.

I would like to put on record the contributions from a group of volunteer classmates and family members, some of whom are in the Working Committee (WC) and have been planning meticulously for the past six months behind the scene to make this Celebrations Week a success, so that you can give them the recognition they deserve;

1. Chris Ng Wai Shun, the secretary of WC, has brushed aside his bread and butter trading business to work nearly half time on all Celebrations logistics. Without his meticulous planning, log keeping, cost cutting measures and co-ordination, our Celebrations Week would not be as smooth as silk. He also worked closely with the caterer and banner maker to ensure the cost of dinner, venue setting and decorations were within budget, decent and the quality not only met but exceeded the standard expected by our classmates;

2. Patrick Chan Wing Hing, our treasurer, has not only projected correctly but kept track on our income and spending to make sure we have a surplus to set up a General Fund for the class. Using his experience  obtained in the Reunion 2011, Patrick has contributed many creative ideas to make the Celebrations Week even more memorable. Our unaudited account shows a surplus of around $19,000;

3. Alex Shuen Pak Chin for being our auditor and menu setter for our gala dinner. After our accounts have been audited, classmates will be informed of the exact surplus deposited into the class General Fund;

4. Ip Fuk Wah  acted as our tour leader for the China trip as well as the seafood dinner co-ordinator. Under his leadership, we had extra dishes for dinners, fresh fruits and karaoke during the China trip without extra cost and a sumptuous value for money seafood dinner in Aberdeen ;

5. Anthony Kwan Lok Fong  not only created a Celebrations Week webpage so that every classmate could keep track of our progress, he also set up the PA and video presentations at the gala dinner and acted as one of the two official photographers;

6. Peter Law Kee Leung drew up and obtained a quote for the Shao Guan part of our China trip;

7. Caesar Chan Wah Shing and his wife Pauline organized the splendid Shenzhen part of the China trip and kept classmates entertained with his jokes;

8. Philip Woo Siu Lun for being the MC of the gala dinner;

9. Lau Tai Chu for being our wine controller and personally taking extra fine wine to our venues;

10. Cheng Lap Yan for his generous donation of the official souvenir for the Celebrations Week and for being the official photographer, and Andrew Ng Yiu Man for his gifts to Father Deignan and Principal So as well as 96 bottles of wine for consumption by classmates at the gala dinner plus side programs. Everyone loved the souvenir and had more than enough to drink; 

11. James Cheung Tin Chung and Eric Mun Ping Kuen for donating table prizes for the gala dinner; and

12. Wives of Cheng Lap Yan (Rowena), Kumert Chow Keung Kun (Christine), Lee Shu Chuen (Hayley) and my wife (Monica) for purchasing their local snacks for consumption of participants during the China trip.

So, it has taken the contribution of twenty enthusiastic volunteer classmates and family members to work concertedly to make our Celebrations Week happen and it was their devotion and determination to give of their best which made it a success. Please therefore join me to thank them for what they have done. Perhaps, next time you meet any of them, buy them a cup of coffee or at least give them a pat on the back and say THANK YOU. None of us are expert in event organizing but together as a team and back by our Wah Yan spirit, we did create a memorable Celebrations Week to celebrate our 60th Birthday. When it is time to organize the next big function for the class, I hope you will volunteer to help too.

Some photos taken by our two official photographers during the Celebrations Week have already been uploaded onto our class website http://wahyanhk1971.org/?page_id=186 for your viewing. If you have photos to share, pl. add them to the above website yourself or create and forward a link to Anthony Kwan at [email protected]  before end of year for uploading so that classmates can recount the joy and pleasure of the Celebrations Week with their family and friends.

For those of you who could not come to the Celebrations Week for one reason or another, you may like to have a look at the photos to find out who has come and done what. We hope the memorable moments captured in these photos can motivate you to join us in our future functions and share the fun.

The WC will conduct a review meeting on 26 Nov. 2013 and you are welcome to forward your comments on the Celebrations Week before 25 Nov. to all WC members for consideration during the review meeting and post them direct onto our Celebrations Week webpage for sharing with your classmates.

For those overseas participants who are still in HK, have a safe trip home. For those who are already safely home and also local participants, thanks for joining. For those who could not find time to join the Celebrations Week, hope you can join the next class function to renew our friendship.

So, until we meet again, stay healthy, enjoy life and keep in touch. God bless!

Cheers,

Daniel Mak Wah Hung

Chairman, 20131119

WC for 60th Birthday Celebrations Week 2013

Class of 1971 WYHK

[Forwarded by AK, 20131119]