Mr. Laurence Tam writes, "On Mar 14, 2012, a party celebrating the 85th birthday of Fr Deignan was held at HKU Ricci Hall. I went there with Prof Dominic Lam Man Kit (63 WYHK) to present a birthday gift to Fr Deignan. When we arrived at Ricci Hall, we found that the "Fr Deignan Education Studio (狄恒教室)" was having a study group there with Fr Deignan and students from three schools. (Please click the image for the album.)
The painting, a new creation by Dominic Lam, was presented to Fr Deignan at the end of the study group. I took the opportunity to thank Fr Deignan for his support in the setup of the Fr Deignan Chinese Art Award scheme. I told him that a competition of works of Chinese art by WYK and WYHK students will be held later this year. The art awards for this year would therefore be most appropriately be taken as a token in celebration of Fr Deignan’s 85th birthday.
Then we had lunch together at Ricci Hall canteen. I sat next to Fr Deignan. I was very glad to learn, and reveal here, that Fr Deignan had a recent physical checkup and he was very pleased with the checkup result that he had no symptoms of the 3-Heights that worry most elderly people (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood glucose level). We congratulate one another at the table while we both were enjoying the last course of our lunch, the dessert, which included small portions of chocolate mousse, fruit pudding and a bean cake. The highlight was of course the cutting of the birthday cake. Obviously, Father was enjoying the company of the school kids present, as I noticed that he was smiling throughout the course of the party.
I found later that the birthday party was organized by Mr Benny Wan Wai Choi (81) who is the key figure responsible for the founding of "Fr Deignan Education Studio". The party was held in conjunction with the Studio’s initiation of “Creative Experiential Learning Opportunities for Students”, an experiential learning project activity for students coming from poor families. Participants included students aged 8 to 16 from three local schools, including St Bonaventure College & High School (聖文德書院) , T.W.S. St. Bonaventure Catholic Primary School (慈雲山聖文德天主教小學) and Fresh Fish Traders’ School(鮮魚行學校).
The Fr Deignan Education Studio is committed to support Father Deignan in his dream of providing an outstanding liberal arts education in Jesuit tradition. As there is a need to enrich the education for local students, especially the less privileged, with new opportunities, they would like to employ the knowledge of experiential learning and borrow Jesuit’s successful experience in education to serve this goal.
The Father Deignan Education Studio offers free learning opportunities and scholarships to the needy. Currently, they have 2 scholarship kids, one is in Oxford University and the other has just completed her Master Degree in Spain.
To make sure their charitable work can be on a long-term and sustainable basis, they have also established a platform that enhances self-reliance through running social enterprise projects with student volunteers. For information, I am attaching some of the photos on the activities fully sponsored by the Fr Deignan Education Studio.
For those who need any further information, please feel free to contact Benny Wan (Mobile: 6067 2714) Programme Director of Father Deignan Education Studio (Registered Charity: 91/10195)."