Revelry night

Originally, i had wanted this story to be part of my recollection of the events that occurred on the 21st of October this year. But on reflection, I would want to separate the solemn and formal morning from the revelry at the end of the days. Hence, a decision to make the OFA annual dinner a separate story by itself.

If I had felt upbeat while at the Speech Day, the OFA annual dinner was THE event that was definitely exhilarating. It raised the temperature of all Old Frees that attended the function. Right from the word Go when the Free School Band struck up the strains of the School Rally, from the moment when Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow took the stage to preach his election-tinged message to the diners, the atmosphere in the ballroom of the St Giles Wembley was electric. People who had not met one another for two to three years on account of the pandemic greeted one another with such camaraderie and friendship. One of my chess friends described the occasion as filled with "boisterous laughter, hearty chats and regular yum seng toasts." I myself must have renewed my acquaintance with more people in a single night than in the first 10 months of this year. That was the power of the OFA annual dinner and I am glad that I was there. 

Loh Lean Kang and I discovered these three boys who had attended our leadership workshop in 2018. They are now in Form Six but unfortunately, the Free School no longer has Science classes and they are forced to continue their sixth form at the nearby Zainal Abidin school.

My schoolmates with our spouses. Standing, left to right: myself, Ho Siang Juan and Tan Kok Yong. Seated, left to right: Wong Chye Chye, Ooi Kah Theang and Lee Hock Siew.

My wife and I with Khoo Yeoh Gan Hong, easily one of the oldest, if not already the oldest, member of The Old Frees' Association who attended the annual dinner. Befitting his age, his feet were now unsteady but he was still game enough to be on stage to celebrate the cutting of the anniversary cake.

The School Band provided the initial entertainment at the function starting with, of course, the School Rally