Author Archives: Alan Wallace

Hello from your Chieftain 😊

I hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to the summer break. I’ll be heading to the UK end of this month, my first trip back in 6 years, how time flies!! I’m really looking forward seeing my family and friends and hoping the lovely weather they are having just now continues 🙏 Don’t think I could survive cold temperatures having been spoiled living in these hot climates for 20 years…showing my age now!!

As promised in my last Chieftain’s Chatter, I want to keep you updated on what’s been happening so far and what’s coming up for our Society events.

INTERSOCIETY GOLF TOURNAMENT

This year’s Intersociety Golf competition took place on Saturday 20^th May, 2023 at Tasik Puteri Golf Resort. Eighty golfers battled it out with teams representing from St. Andrew’s, St. Patrick’s, St. George’s, and Canada/Rest of the World.

Selangor St. Andrew’s Society were the defending champions so were the organisers for this year. I’d like to say a huge thank you to our main sponsors, Melbourne Capital Group (MCG), who made a substantial donation to charity and offered a prize of free beer at Sid’s for a year to the winning flight of the Yellow Ball competition! Asian Tigers, long-term supporters of the day, and MCG generously kitted the golfers out with T-Shirts and well-filled goodie bags, also providing a prize of a super golf bag cover. The golfers were further plied with great prizes, including booze baskets donated by Tito’s Vodka and the Tong Woh Group, plus Wedge rewarded the winner of the Longest Drive with a golf simulator voucher.

We had other side competitions on the day, prizes for Nearest to the Pin, Nearest the Line and Best Golfer of the Day, but this year additionally introduced a brand new event – Beat the Teen! Aaron Annison, a very talented 14 year old, flew in from Bangkok to challenge our golfers at hole 6 and impressively beat 72 of them while raising RM1,830 for charity.

At hole eight, golfers were invited to Spin the Wheel for Motor Neurone Disease, making their own pledges to this year’s highlighted charity, which raised RM2,060. We also raised RM450 for the bus escorting players to and from the course. In total, the Inter-Society Golf Tournament 2023 raised over RM10,000, which will be divided amongst our six chosen charities.

A fantastic result for such worthwhile causes, to cap off a great day of fun, food, banter, and competition. And the icing on the cake, Selangor St. Andrew’s Society emerged victorious once again in the Team Competition  so we get to organise it all again next year!

• 

• 

BATU GAJAH REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY

My husband Alan and I, along with fellow committee colleague Chris Collier, attended the remembrance service at God’s Little Acre, Batu Gajah on Saturday 17^th June, 2023. Organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), the service was very well attended with representation from the guest of honour, Ng Kong Soon, representing the Royal Malaysian Police; his Excellency the Most Reverend Datuk Seri Sebastian Francis, Bishop of the Diocese of Penang; Sharmila Bernau, Deputy High Commissioner of New Zealand; representatives from the British High Commission; police and army representatives; war veterans; and plantation stakeholders across the supply chain.

Such a moving service paying respects to all those who sadly lost their lives during 1948-1960 Malayan emergency. I had the honour of laying a wreath on behalf of the society, and my colleague Chris laid a wreath on behalf of the British Legion.

• 

• 

• 

• 

ALICE SMITH SCHOOL HUMANITIES AWARD PRESENTATION This year’s annual Humanities Award presentation took place at the Alice Smith School, Main Hall, Secondary Campus on Tuesday 27^th June, 2023. I had the honour of presenting the Humanities Award to Hayden Arthur Schubert, Year 13, on behalf of the Selangor St Andrew’s Society.

• 

• 

KL 8^th HIGHLAND GAMES

The 8^th Highland Games this year will take place on Saturday 23^rd September, 2023 at Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. You will have seen our weekly promotional flyers announcing our sponsors, chosen charities, entertainment providers, mass pipe bands on all our social media platforms. Further promotional announcements to follow. We are currently creating a new KLHG website which will contain everything you need to know about this fantastic event. As members can I encourage all of you to spread the word. We are expecting crowds higher than previous years given the amount of sponsorship and publicity the games are attracting. We have made a commitment to our sponsors to deliver the very best so we need to ensure this is carried through as none of this would be possible without their support.

This year’s event will see the return of the heavies and mass pipe bands. We have the rugby, tug of war and wellie boot toss competitions. We will also have a golf simulator competition. Lots of exciting things to look forward to and of course we have the bars to keep us refreshed and energised as we dance the night away with our favourite regular band, Urban Myth. We also welcome Scotland’s favourite MC, Craig Hill, flying in especially for the games. There’s no escaping him when he gets hold of the mic so watch out!!

We are looking forward to another successful and fun filled day with a bumper crowd, lets hope the weather behaves itself 🙏But if it does rain, just take shelter in the bar 🍺🥂🍸 Win win all round 🤩

Listed below are our official sponsors:

PLATINUM SPONSORS

BLUESTAR AMG

ASEAN GROUP

RIO CLUB

ODFJELL TECHNOLOGY

BORR DRILLING

AROONA SOLUTIONS

CRYSTAL PTE LIMITED

GOLD SPONSORS

HEINEKEN

ARTCO ASSOCIATED RENTAL TOOLS

AOS OFFSHORE

DIAMOND CLASSIC SERVICES

LV SHIPPING & TRANSPORT

SILVER & BRONZE SPONSORS

TENDEKA

NEW HORIZONS OILFIELD & ENERGY SERVICES

AURORA TALENT

PING PETROLEUM

ABERDEEN DRILLING SCHOOL & WEL CONTROL TRAINING CENTRE

AGS WORLDWIDE MOVERS

ASIAN TIGERS GROUP

Through the generosity of our sponsors, we are able to provide charitable donations to a number of charities. Listed below are our chosen charities that will benefit from the Highland Games. Again, a big thank you for making this possible.

OFFICIAL CHOSEN CHARITIES

BATU GRACE ASHRAM

SPECIAL CHILDREN SOCIETY OF AMPANG

THE PEACE EDUCATION CENTRE (T-PEC)

GRACE EDUCATION CENTRE (GEC)

PERSATUAN M-O-B-I-L-I-T-I

VOICE FOR PAWS

ST ANDREW’S BALL

My first formal event as Chieftain will be the St Andrew’s Ball at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Saturday 25^th November, 2023, a new and exciting venue for this year’s annual celebration. We will see the return of our favourite ceilidh band, Clappy Doo, along with the amazing St John’s Alumni pipe band. The flyer for this event will be issued after our highland games.

BURNS NIGHT 2024

Following the success of this year’s Burns Night, we will once again be holding this event at the Four Seasons Hotel on Saturday 3^rd February, 2024. Further details to follow.

As you can see, we have lots of exciting events coming up so be sure to keep yourselves updated by checking out our website and social media. Thank you once again for your continued support for your society. Special thanks to all our sponsors, supporters, and volunteers for making our events possible.

Cheers,

Carol Wallace

131^st Chieftain Selangor St Andrew’s Society