CBM & HSBM Year '76 CNY Gathering 2012

The boys & girls of CBM & HSBM Year '76 held their inaugural joint CNY Gathering at D'Residence, Bayan Mutiara, Penang, MALAYSIA on 25th January 2012. It was hosted by Jinai Goh who graciously offered the use of her magnificent house & spacious grounds as the venue. A good turnout was recorded with some making the journey back from as far as Sweden, Hong Kong, France & Australia just to attend this event. To prove that they are not too old nor jaded to let their hair down, the attendees sportingly took part in the games planned specially for them. The evening's festivities was further augmented with a lion dance performance by the host's young nephew, Jared Goh, who displayed remarkable skill & agility in executing the physically demanding dance moves. Everyone agreed that the evening was a resounding success & congratulated the organising committee for a job well done.

Preparations began as early as October which saw the loosely formed committee comprising Eric Ooi, Tan Ah Hong, Irene Ewe & Wong Siew Hui scouting around for a suitable venue to host the event. Staying faithful to the theme of an intimate & yet casual gathering, the committee decided against renting the club house across the road as the conditions attached were too restrictive and the time was limited to merely a few hours which was insufficient for the committee to work around with nor permit the few guests the option of staying back later & do some catching up. And there was the question of food which had always been a challenge for any host when organising a gathering during the first few days of the Chinese New Year as most of the Chinese restaurants would be closed for at least a week.

The solution finally presented itself when on a visit to Jinai’s house, the committee brought up the topic. She, the ever hospitable host, immediately offered her spacious garden for an ‘al fresco’ café setting where the guests would be bathed in the glow of twinkling lights & carressed by the cool sea breeze drifting over the Penang Channel while sipping her special concoction of citrusy & refreshing drink. This time, the committee had the food catered by Lily’s Vegetarian Restaurant which stayed open for the Chinese New Year celebration.

So, with that out of the way, emails were sent out to inform the boys & girls. This time, the attendees were encouraged to car pool so as not to cause any congestion at the host’s gated neighbourhood, which is fast becoming a necessary security measure even in some of the ordinary housing estates. Of course, they would also be doing their part in helping to conserve earth’s dwindling oil reserves, preserve the environment and allow our future generations to inherit a planet that is still habitable.

The committee unanimously agreed that those attending should share the cost of the gathering but not misconstrue the host to be ‘kiam siap’ because this would enable them to help pay for the food and drinks and any other incidental expenses and yet feel that they have made a contribution in lieu of their effort & also own a part of the action even if all they did was only to show up. A small gesture really, but it would mean a lot to anyone who would want to take turn to host any future gatherings of this nature.

From an initial 20 attendees who responded early to our emails, the guest list ballooned to 35 towards the last week before the event. Although the committee were elated with the last-minute confirmations, it sort of caused the department in charge of the table assignments, food & games a fair amount of anxiety.

Finally, all the hard work put in by the committee culminated into the most successful gathering ever organised. Seeing everyone who had made the effort & sacrifice to attend this gathering have a marvelous & memorable time was rewarding enough.

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