九龍華仁書院安省舊生會

[Wah Yan College Kowloon has an excellent Mathematics programme.  It is because WYK has had the service of very talented Maths Head teachers.  Mr. Lai Chun Pong (1971~1995) was one of them.  He is residing in Australia and will be going to attend IC2010.]

"Hi, dear students, I hope you still remember me. I am Lai Sir, whom you endearingly nicknamed as “Maths Chai” since I joined Wah Yan College, Kowloon in 1971.

After working for two years as a tutor in the Department of Mathematics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, I applied for a Maths teaching post at WYK. That year the School Principal was Fr Reid, and the Assistant Principal was Mr A Ho.  Mr Ho regarded my application for a teaching post in WYK with suspicion.  He found it hard to believe someone teaching in a university would be interested in applying for a teaching post in a secondary school.  But at that time, he said WYK was in need of a Mathematics teacher.  He gave me the job on condition that I could obtain a good testimonial from the Department Head in the Chinese University within the next couple of days.  After submitting the necessary document, I joined the teaching team of WYK on 6^th Sept., 1971.

It has been more than 50 long years since John Chan Doming from Hong Kong met some of his classmates in Toronto.  During his very short stay, he and his wife, Jan, managed to find time to have dinner with the group on Thursday, July 22, 2010, the night before he left for Hong Kong via the States.

Looking back, the School Swimming Champion in 1960 found himself having studied 2 full years in Primary 6 in other schools before joining P6 at Wah Yan.  Another proudly announced that he had the fortune of repeating three years before graduating from Form 5 in 62 and then moving onto McGill.  Another record was set in the 50’s in Form 3D when 8 students had to repeat another year with the same Form-master, Father Mallin.  Repeating was not unusual at Wah Yan in those years.  Interestingly enough, many repeaters enjoyed their extra time at school.

Now that many are professionals, practicing or retired, anecdotes of their work were happily shared.  Time flew by.  They discussed their 50^th Anniversary reunion in Hong Kong next year.  Preparation has already been under way.  Parting, they said, “See you at reunion.”

Click here for more photos.

Former teacher Miss Monica Tang, presently a teacher with Toronto Board of Education, attended Encore, the finale of 90/85^th Anniversary celebrations on July 10 at Hong Kong Coliseum.  She writes, “The event of performing arts of past and present Wahyanites and their friends was spectacular. I had a brief talk with Fr Stephen Chow after the event, but did not have the chance talking to the other Fathers … I will not be attending the picnic as I will still be in Hong Kong…”

Monty Fong of Wah Yan One Family has kindly sent us the newspaper clippings of the event. (Thanks)

Note that the conductor Professor Gabriel Leung Cheuk-Wai, Under Secretary for Food and Health Bureau, is the son of the late Carmelo Leung (61).

Please click here to view the pictures.

(July 10 at Mon Sheong Court) Our President, David Wong gave a high-level yet interesting talk on 陰陽五行, 天干地支, 面相, 風水等等. The idea is to introduce to the audience the basic concepts and inter-relationships of the topics mentioned above. Basic it may seem, it certainly takes time and brain power to understand the underlying theories. This is meant to be an introductory discussion; more in-depth seminars may be held in the future depending on interests of the members.

David wrapped up the talk after a brief refreshment break; all attendees held on tight to the handouts with their scribbled notes because they know they will have more than food to digest afterwards (see the pictures here). If you are interested in obtaining a soft copy of the notes handed out in the talk, please click here.

"I have had a few moments of excitement last week hosting the tour of Her Majesty in Manitoba. Attached please find a few photo shots when I received E II R at our new airport which was still under construction until September this year. My house was surrounded by securities during her stay at my residence. I did not comment on the English Soccer team in the World Cup when having a conversation with her. I was pleasantly surprised that when she made her speech which was 50% French; her French was very impressively accurate.  She must have the genes of her great great great grandfather, Richard, the Lion Heart who was purportedly known to speak primarily French and very little English.

Eliza and Don Yau (65) married recently.  They were in town and attended a welcome dinner on June 24.  They brought along a Red and a White which paired nicely with a menu drawn up by Gus Yueng and Andrew Tang.  It was a very happy evening.

[Eliza and Don were at our 2008 AGM dinner held at the same restaurant.]

Click here for pictures taken by Andrew.