Posted on 29-Oct-2012
By Sergeant Kodie Low Ing-Hock of 3rd Kuala Lumpur Company
Pictures by Mr Wong How Ran
October 27, 2012
BRICKFIELDS, KUALA LUMPUR - On the 27th of October 2012, The Kuala Lumpur State Council Boys' Brigade commemorated one of the most important events shared by Boys Brigade members all over the globe - Founders' Day, the day we all remember and give thanks for the life of our beloved Founder, Sir William Alexander Smith, the man responsible for starting up this wonderful family of which so many of us are a part of today. This year's event was held at the Methodist College Kuala Lumpur which began at 8.30am.
Left: Companies arriving and gathering at the Methodist College KL grounds. Center: 3rd KL Brass Band played accompaniment for the Guard of Honour. Right: The combined KL State Guard of Honour.
Arriving companies were oriented as they arrived of where to put their belongings while selected NCOs from all companies reported to the field to practice for the Guard of Honour. Shortly after all companies gathered on the field and the opening ceremony began under perfect weather, with a great thanks to God for blessing us with such awesome weather for the rest of the day. Mr Francis Chiong, the BB Asia Executive Secretary, was the inspecting officer for the Guard of Honour, while the 3rd Kuala Lumpur marching brass band play the accompanying pieces. Also present on the field were Mr Tony Chow Kok Foo the Kuala Lumpur State Commissioner, Mr Cheong Sing Yuen the Vice-President of the Stedfast Association of Kuala Lumpur and a very special guest all the way from the United Kingdom in the form of Mr Clive McIntosh, the captain of the 20th Bristol Company.
Left: LCpl Au Kar Fei leading the 1st KL team in praise and worship. Center. Pte Kelvin Tham backup singing. Right: 350 BB members pack into the MCKL auditorium.
Soon after the opening ceremony, everyone moved up to the auditorium for the Founders' Day Service which began with the marching in of all the KL company colours. It was interesting seeing all the Colours being marched in one by one and gathered in the same room for the first time, definitely a first time. After that, a joyful praise and worship session was lead by Lance Corporal Au Kar Fei and his team of Boys from the 1st Kuala Lumpur Company. Following worship the guest speaker Reverend Chieng Yu Hoo, who was a former BB Boy and officer from the 1st Sibu Company, presented a message based on how Sir William Smith dealt with the needs of the Boys during his years and emphasised on the sacrifice made for them, leading to the theme of service and sacrifice, Reverend Chieng also urged BB members to consider serving as officers in the future. The next event was the special award presentation ceremony where the Presidents Award was given to two recipient - Staff Sergeant Benjamin Yap and Sergeant Aolani who are both from 10th Kuala Lumpur Company. The service concluded with the marching out of Colours.
Left: Rev Chieng presenting the sermon, diligently interpreted by Mr Andrew Tan (10th KL). Center: Refreshments after service. Right: All smiles!
Refreshments were served after service and time was given to everyone to change to their sports wear for the telematch competition. A short briefing was given before teams were arranged into 15 teams. A simple ice breaker was conducted so that everyone can get to know their team members better as well as to pick a team leader before the competitions began. There were stations scattered all around Methodist College. Each station challenged needed to be completed before they can proceed to the next one. To make things more interesting, each team had to guess which station they were to go to first, which was contained in clues contained within a piece of paper.
Left: Mr Wong Hoe Kit giving a briefing for the telematch, Center: One of the telematch challenges. Right: Mr Yee giving our prizes to the one of the teams led by Sgt. Alvin Wong.
There were about 21 stations around the college and each one had an exciting game for the teams to play such as can stacking, pass the water balloons (where each team member had to toss it to the next one backwards), coin soup (which they had to pick up coins with chopsticks) and much more. The games came to an end at 1.30pm with everyone gathering back at the starting pointfor the prize giving and closing ceremony. The top 5 teams each received a gift hamper while the the top team had a little something extra where each team member received a 8GB pendrive courtesy of the Methodist College of Kuala Lumpur. Towards the end of the days event, a short speech was given by Mr Yee Mun Theam, the Deputy State Commissioner, followed by the singing of the BB Vesper, officially ending the Kuala Lumpur State Founders' Day celebration.
The Kuala Lumpur State Family Photo during Founders' Day 2012