CENTENARY the book

The front and back covers of CENTENARY

Finally, I am able to disclose the project that I've been working on during these past few months. And ta-dah....these are the front and back covers of CENTENARY, my latest book, which is about the history of The Old Frees' Association which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 1923. 

To me, this project was the third of a trilogy of books, a continuation of my work which began in November 2011 soon after the OFA annual dinner in October. At that fateful dinner, I was asked to co-edit a coffeetable book for The Old Frees' Association called FIDELIS. I had various areas to look into and one of them was to touch on the Association's history. 

At that time, there was barely four months for us to put FIDELIS together because at the end of March 2012, there was an official function to announce Penang Free School's Bicentenary celebrations in 2016. The highlight of that function was the unveiling of FIDELIS by the Raja of Perlis. 

Despite its triumphant unveiling, I felt that FIDELIS was inadequate in covering the rich histories of Penang Free School and The Old Frees' Association. I mean, how much could be uncovered in four mere months? The actual research and writing probably took only two months; the rest of the time was allocated to proofreading and the printing process.

Soon after FIDELIS, I was tasked with coming out with a book on Penang Free School. For that book, I had the comfort of time to research and write. In fact, I took 30 months to complete all that and everything that appeared in LET THE AISLES PROCLAIM  was the result of my time well spent. LET THE AISLES PROCLAIM was unveiled by the Raja of Perlis in a glittering ceremony in the school field on 21 October 2016 amidst a 5,000-strong crowd of Old Frees.

LET THE AISLES PROCLAIM provided readers with a very comprehensive history of Penang Free School and needless to say, I was immensely proud of my magnum opus, all 360 pages of it. But I still regarded my work as unfinished. There was still the part in FIDELIS on the history of The Old Frees' Association which was much in wanting.  

The opportunity came with The Old Frees' Association's 100th anniversary celebrations. Another book project, this time on the Association's history. So this was the opportunity for me to do real research and basically, go over all my old notes from seven or eight years earlier. 

This book, CENTENARY, is the result of the last 12 months' full work. This morning, I received the sign-off from both the President of The Old Frees' Association and the Chairman of the OFA Centenary Celebrations Committee, and with their sign-offs the book is ready to go to the printers. We shall have it ready by 21 October 2023.