Wednesday, December 24, 2008

birthday celebration at spom



the balestier group met again this month at the senior police officers' mess at mt pleasant road to celebrate seck yeong's birthday. i have visited the former junior police officers' mess at ladyhill a few times but this was my first visit to the mess for senior officers. the mess is in a very secluded location, quite close to the old police academy and the onraet road's detention centre.

hiang kwang, who is based in sydney most of the time, was supposed to be there but he could not get on a flight on 19 dec, the date he had planned to fly back. wing choy could not make it as he had a wedding dinner to attend. the welcomed surprise was the presence of khoo boo sun, who has kept away from the group for quite some time. we congratulated him on his esteemed appointment as an international race officer - the highest level of running and managing sailing races.

before the commencement of the dinner, we were taken on a tour of the mess by teck seng. we were shown the spa, the jackpot room, the billiard room, the hall - where christmas parties used to be held - and the photo gallery where the photographs of all the police commissioners were on display.

i do not know how many courses there were for dinner but we had a lot to eat. after eating the birthday cake, we adjourned to the karaoke lounge and room. my wife must have let my former students in on my 'croaking' at home, so they were trying to get me to 'start the ball rolling' by singing the first song. cheng hong sang the first song, a mandarin one.

there was some discussion on the next gathering before we left the place just before 11 p.m.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

How come in my first photo, everybody stand "attention"?

Icemoon said...

yg's balestier group includes his former students too??

Victor said...

Peter, you took the first photo for YG? O_O

Victor said...

Merry X'mas and Happy New Year to everyone.

YG - Looks like you had a Christmas dinner with a bang at SPOM.

yg said...

victor, you are mistaken. that's not me in the picture with the bangers; that's my former student, pastor phua.

Anonymous said...

The son is an exact replica of the father, and the daughter is from the same mould of the mother. Wonderful evening, wonderful gathering, wonderful place….
Thank you Teck Seng and Seck Yeong for the wonderful occasion.

Icemoon said...

It looks like nah could be part of the Balestier group as well. I wonder whether he is another former student of yg.

yg said...

icemoon, you are quite sharp. yes, nah is a member of the balestier group but he is not my former student. he is my age and we retired at the same time.