The 130th Anniversary of the BB

Written by Lance Corporal Teng Hang Yew of 2nd Kuala Lumpur Company

October 5th, 2013

CHERAS, KUALA LUMPUR - In conjunction with the 130th Anniversary of The Boys' Brigade, The Stedfast Association Kuala Lumpur organized a reunion dinner for former members of The Boys' Brigade in Malaysia. The objective is for individual companies to gather former members from their own companies to join this reunion. By doing so, the Stedfast Association Kuala Lumpur (SAKL) has made it easier as each company would not need to go all out to plan a separate reunion program as it has already been planned for them. 

Events lined up for the night included performances, lucky draws, presentations and so on. For all Elvis Presley Fans, there was a surprise for them in the dinner. SAKL had invited the "Malaysian Elvis" – Mr. H.T. Long, to entertain guest for the night. 

The dinner was schedules to begin at 7pm sharp. My officer, Mr. Darryn Chiew, and I had setup a booth outside the dinner hall to display his immense collection of badges and to help promote a badge catalog as well in attempt to gather information regarding badges for the first few BB Pestas in the early years. We had to rush because it difficult to put a lot of things on one table. However, Mr. Chiew still got to see several former BB members with the same interest and surprised us more is that HT Long also has the same interest, but in the collection of other things. After the both of us have finished the display, we pack our display and went into the hall to find our table.

Left: 2nd KL officers posing with the "Malaysian Elvis". Center: 2nd KL table - the 024-'s. Right: All past and present BB captains cutting the 130th Anniversary birthday cake

Next, we had our first dishes and I found out I was the only person who knew how to use a chopstick properly on my table. We had a fun time “using” the chopstick and enjoyed ourselves. The dishes came by one after another. In the middle of the dinner the 1^st lucky draw begun and there were many prizes. This was followed by HT Long singing and the band performance by 1^st Kuala Lumpur Company, which recently won the 1^st place in the Concert Band Festival.

Meanwhile, we all had fun listening to songs and enjoying the meal. Those on our table enjoyed ourselves thoroughly with each other’s company. After the fun was over, it was time for the most exciting event, THE LUCKY DRAW! My ticket number was 0424 and was seated together with a table full of 2^nd Kuala Lumpur Company members and officer, all with numbers starting with 04-- . When the lucky draw commenced, none of us had confidence of winning a prize, so we continued eating our tasty meal. But something out of the ordinary happened, the final and 1^st prize winning holds the numbers starting with 04. The MC continued to taunt the crowd by telling ““all numbers which do not start with 04 please go back lah”. He then proceeded by announcing the third number – 2, which was our table! All of us almost wanted to stand. Then the last number – 4, the winner for the 1^st prize is 0424, and it is me! I happily went up on stage to receive a 32-inch LED television. *grinning face*

At last, we all had our last segment of the dinner which was to sing the song “Pass it On”. They gave us a packet of candles, offed the lights in the hall, which produced a serene effect, a good ending to this reunion dinner. Last but not least, the BB Vesper was sung and the Last Post was sounded. I felt happy, not just because I won the 1^st prize, but also because I’m sharing the happiness and good times in this dinner with my best brother and sisters together. We all also had a few pictures taken before we, the 2^nd Kuala Lumpur Company, dismissed from the dinner and went back home safely with our officers’ cars.