Thank you to Past-Chieftain, Alan for the introduction and well done for doing a great job these past 2 years.
Dear All,
It is with great pride and privilege that I become the 129th Chieftain of the Selangor St Andrews Society. Well March 2020, what a month that was to begin my term as Chieftain! Within a week of taking on the role, life and the world we knew, changed more dramatically and beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. I would also like to congratulate my wife Linda in taking up her role as my vice Chieftain. I know that Linda’s boundless energy and enthusiasm will be an asset to myself (which she has been for the past 33 years 😊) and the society as a whole.
From a Society point of view, we were very active in the first quarter of the year, with two out of three scheduled events completed. Our third and biggest event, the 7th KL Highland Games, as you all know, was postponed as the pandemic took hold, and with everyone’s safety in mind, we had no option. The society actually took the decision before the MCO was introduced, we felt it was the right thing to do and we were proven correct in the direction we took to prevent the spread of this horrible virus.
As you can imagine, there had been a lot of planning and preparation by our committee members and supporters, so it was disappointing for the society as a whole and myself personally not to be able to showcase our efforts on the day. The good news is that we have now scheduled next years KLHG for the 6th February 2021, hopefully, the situation will have improved and people will have the confidence to come and support us and make the 2021 Games the best ever.
We all endured the necessary & compulsory lockdown in March and we should all be proud of ourselves and Malaysia in general for keeping the numbers down. As a committee we kept in to touch throughout with our usual what’s app groups and zoom meetings.
It wasn’t long before we realised that if we wanted the society and our social events to carry on in any shape or form we had to keep the planning going in a different way and some out of box thinking was required. As no one knows how long alternative ways to celebrate these unusual and unprecedented conditions will continue for we will need to come up with alternative ways to celebrate our Scottish calendar.
As time has progressed, we have managed to hold a few meetings without the “help” of Zoom. We continue to plan and can hopefully adapt to whatever conditions are necessary to hold the upcoming events, watch this space.
The first of these will be the Inter Society Golf Competition, We have reserved Sungai Long for Sunday, 3rd October. All golfers of any experience are welcome. A lunch, dinner and prize giving will be in place for the event. It really is a fun day and will be the first time for many of us to catch up (we will follow the SOPS of course) in many many months. All SOP rules and regulations will be followed to the letter and we can have, although different from any other years, a successful event. The normal flyer with all details will be available soon.
St Andrew’s celebration plans are in progress, again will be very different format than previous. However we hope members and guests will support us in these difficult times. The plans for St Andrews ball in a different format will be published as soon as it is finalized.
It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of one of our past Chieftains Roger McGowan. Roger sadly passed away in July after battling a long illness. Roger was Chieftain of SSAS in 2006. Sadly I also have to announce the death of another of our members Drew Beck who died suddenly this year. Our condolences go out their families and friends.
As your new chieftain I will always endeavour to carry out my duties with dedication and passion as well as compassion as my predecessors have done all these past years. Let me end by thanking all of our members for all the past support. Let’s all do our very best to make 2020 a year to remember for other reasons than the quite obvious one. I hope we can gather together soon and bring some light and happiness to us all. Cannot wait to meet up with you all and your guests very soon.
Yours Aye,
Ken Ross
129th Chieftain of the Selangor St Andrew’s Society
