Methodist Get-together

Time flies. That, unfortunately, is a fact that hits me from time to time. It's now more than three weeks. I had intended to write this the very next day. But, I went smack into a period of intense activity where I hit the ground running from point to point.

It's still momentous enough for mention here. And so, with apologies for the delay, here is what happened.

That morn till afternoon..

...and that evening...

It was July 23 and the place was Holiday Inn Glenmarie in Shah Alam. The occasion was the inaugural Inter-Methodist Alumni Fellowship Golf & Dinner. And the hosts were the Methodist Boys School Kuala Lumpur Alumni Association.

Peter Yap, organizing chairman of the event, said they had invited 23 national and regional Methodist alumni associations.

"Fifteen alumni associations responded and are represented. The response is encouraging, especially with the presence of Hong Kong Methodist College," Peter said, pictured here receiving a thank-you gift from Kiana Shek, who is the treasurer of her alumni association and had flown in from Hong Kong with the secretary, Charles Yan.

Fellowship ran high that evening, helped along with the presentation of Methodist schools in the country and in Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Hong Kong. It reminded us of the pioneering and ministering spirit of our school founders, their prolific activity in Malaysia and surrounding areas, and their legacy that continues to build lives till today.

The Methodist get-together was another important step in a historic endeavour sealed just in May, when Methodist alumni associations had met to form a national-level Federation of Methodist Schools Alumni Associations.

The federation aimed to provide a coordinated body which could perform bigger projects to achieve the aims of alumni bodies to serve their alma mater better, said federation protem chairman Dato' Lee Tak Lum, a former student of MBSKL.

In his dinner speech, Dato' Lee said:

"There must be more than 500,000 Methodist alumni in this country but we are not seen. We are in little groups doing our own little things. La Salle alumni have got together since 30 years ago.

"The time is right for Methodist alumni to get together. I am sure all good things will come from our federation, including doing things for your alma mater."

The federation and golf-and-dinner do are the ground-breaking first steps. Peter said more events were in the pipeline. "We aim to organize this golf-and-dinner as an annual event for all Methodist alumni associations to look forward to and will be targetting more regional Methodist alumni to join us. There will also be other events we will organize along the way and invitations will be extended to all Methodist alumni associations."

I was simply bowled over by the warmth and congeniality of our hosts. They made every effort to make us feel welcome and at ease. My husband, who had accompanied me, enjoyed the evening of "good company." Our hosts had even prepared a souvenir of the special edition event tee and cap and MBSKL school bag for each representative.

Here I was, receiving mine from Dato' Lee and Peter (incidentally, I was there on behalf of Mrs Goh, on behalf of our TMGS OGA). Thank you - once again.

One can never come away from such an event without being indelibly impacted. It awoke in me the sense of being part of a wider, rich and worthy picture. It awoke my husband's consciousness to Methodist schools. When we travelled north the following week, he was the one who spotted and pointed out to me the Methodist schools in Teluk Intan and Lumut.

To TMGS Old Girls Association and the newly formed TMGS Taiping OGA Central Chapter, I hope you will lend your fullest support to the federaton.

To all Methodist mission schools, may you shine ever strong!