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The Regent’s School holds senior prize giving ceremony
Stuart Tasker
The Year 11 and 13 external examination students recently had their
Senior Prize giving in The Globe Theatre at the Pattaya campus prior to the
commencement of their IGCSE and International Baccalaureate examinations.
 Tai
with Mr. Peter Gibney, Head of Physical Education and Sport.
High achieving students were rewarded with academic prizes; hard working
students were rewarded with diligence awards; and more holistic achievements
such as in sport, culture and Round Square were also recognized with awards.
The major award winners where:
In sport: Dux Ludorum - Winitorn (Tai) Tangwiroon, Victrix Ludorum - Fiona
Cunningham.
In The Arts: Outstanding Contribution to the Arts - Thanbutr (Noel)
Huangthong.
In Round Square: King Konstantine Round Square Medal - Se Young (Angela)
Ahn.
In Academics, Academic Excellence in Year 11 - Lee Jin Geun who had received
Diligence in English, 2nd in Information Technology, 1st in Business
Studies, 1st in Science, 1st in Mathematics, 1st in Geography.
Year 13: Proxime Accessit (Runner-up to Dux Scholaris) - Pierre Schifflers
who received Diligence in Mathematics, Diligence in Music, 2nd in Theory of
Knowledge, 1st in Business and Management, 1st in English A1. With the final
major award of Dux Scholaris to Prakhar Dubey who had already received
Diligence in Business and Management, 2nd in English A1, 1st in Chemistry,
1st in Mathematics, 1st in Physics.
Fiona with Mr. Peter Gibney,
Head of Physical Education and Sport.
Noel with Mr Mike Thomas, Head
of Drama.
Angela with Mr. Paul Crouch,
Director of Round Square.
Jin Geun with Mr. Mike Walton,
Headmaster.
Pierre with Mr. Steve Lewis,
Deputy Head of Secondary.
Prakhar with Mr. Frank
Carolan, Assistant Head of Secondary.
A new school for Ban Chiang Pen, Yasothon
Eileen and Norman Denning
Over the last 14 months, our Pattaya business, Yorkies, has been
fundraising to build a new nursery for the children in Ban Chiang Pen,
Yasothon. This was to celebrate Yorkies 10th year in Thailand. After
holding various charity events and functions, we concluded our
fundraising with a charity evening at Rimtalay Restaurant, where we
raised 316,000 baht.
 Eileen
is brought in to dance with the grateful locals.
On Monday the 4th of May, Norman and I, along with Tom and Noi Coghlan
from CSP Construction Co Ltd, arrived at Ban Chiang Pen Nursery school
to hand over a check for 550,000 baht for work to begin on the school at
the end of this month. We were told that there would be a small thank
you ceremony for us. This we assumed would consist of the teachers and
the local government officer. Wrong. We were greeted by the whole
village which had turned out to meet us.
As we arrived, so did a huge cart containing a stack of drums, and
guitars with the loud speakers fastened to the front of the cart. On our
getting out of the car, the teachers decorated us with garlands and what
we could only describe as several long tablecloths, which were duly
wrapped around our waists. We were then given VIP seats, which had
obviously been stolen out of someone’s home as the school didn’t have
any chairs!
Eileen and Norman were
quickly summonsed to join in, which they duly did,
not only with the dance but also with the musicians too.
When we were sitting comfortably, nine beautiful
little girls and one little boy all dressed in costume and make-up
performed a traditional Thai dance for us. This was followed by the
villagers and some of the mums in their costumes who also danced for us.
We were not allowed to just sit and watch this, and were quickly
summonsed to join in, which we duly did, not only with the dance but
also with the musicians too (Norman being better on drums than he is
tripping the light fantastic). Nine monks provided a blessing to each of
us, and to the future of the new school, which we hope will be completed
in around three months time. We still have some money to come in which
should arrive in time to complete the building work. We shall then re
visit the school when it is due to open, and by that time, we hope to
have collected enough computers to supply the nursery and the senior
school, which does not have computers either.
At that point we thought we had concluded our fundraising! We were
wrong. Whilst chatting to the villagers and the teachers, we discovered
that there is only one small clinic within seven villages, and the
nearest hospital is in Yasothon, which is about 40 minutes drive away.
Many, or most of the people in these villages are either very young or
very old, and have little access to any medical care if needed in an
emergency.
The little darlings
welcome their benevolent guests
with a cute Thai dance performance.
So, our next objective is to try to provide the
community with a medical center within easy reach of the seven villages.
This is when we realized we had not finished our fundraising. This area
was hit by a tornado two weeks ago, and roofs have been torn off houses,
leaving the people with no shelter.
One lady lives in a wood house on stilts, and her roof was suddenly torn
off in the middle of the afternoon. She and her husband were terrified
and took shelter in the outside toilet which was built in concrete.
Unfortunately, all the rice which had been taken in and stored in sacks
was soaked. A year’s crop ruined. One of her cows which had a chain
around its neck was struck by lightening and killed. But these people
don’t complain, they just pick up the debris and rebuild their shelter
and their lives as best they can.
We know this really is a bad time to be trying to raise any money for
any project, but however little money we may have in this economic
climate, we have to remember that these people have much less, and in
some cases, nothing. It makes all our moans and complaints insignificant
by comparison. We don’t know if we will be able to raise enough money to
build a medical center, but we will give it our best shot.
If anyone would like to offer any donations please contact Eileen on
0898005007.
The villagers and some of
the mums in their costumes also danced for us.
On Monday May 4, Norman
and Eileen, along with Tom and Noi Coghlan from CSP Construction Co Ltd,
arrived at Ban Chiang Pen Nursery school to hand over a check for
550,000 baht for work to begin on the school.
Kao Talo community helps fund its students
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Kao Talo Community is providing 16 scholarships for its school children.
On May 4 in the Kao Talo Community, Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn
chaired the distribution of 16 scholarships, worth 1,000 baht each, to
primary school students in Banglamung District to help with family
expenses in the new school term.
Somkiat Detpaiboon, head of the Kao Talo Community, said that the
scholarships came from a support budget of 200,000 baht to develop the
SML (small, medium and large community) ability project. For this
project, the government allocates differing amounts of aid to local
communities depending upon their size.
The community has used this budget to provide four drink machines to
provide clean drinking water at economical prices for the community and
its neighbors. This income was raised for the community under the SML
2005 Community Committee’s management. The Kao Talo Community has a net
income of 78,426 baht.
The SML Community Committee now resolved to distribute some portion of
this income to support community residents. The committee has selected
children from primary school classes 1-6 for having good scholastic
results and being from low-income families.
The community comprises 148 houses with 621 residents. Some 1,500 baht
is also available to support residents for funerals. Some money is also
available to donate to the Pattaya City’s budget in the event of fire,
flooding and providing rice and dry food for emergency relief.
Somkiat added that the Community Committee would urge a community
response to the Sufficiency Community Project which is a project to give
power to the people for them to implement ideas for sufficient living.
He said he would convene a community discussion meeting very soon.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak
Rermkitkarn (center) joins the Kao Talo community in presenting 16
scholarships to local students.
BAM09 Exhibition
at Asian University
Susan Joyce
The first batch of Multimedia students have just completed four
years of study at Asian University and will shortly have their BA
degrees conferred on them.
 Friends
and families learn about the students’ work.
They are now making plans for the future; some for further studies
overseas and others to start work. (BAM is a BA degree in Multimedia)
A show of their work is open to the public at the university (Highway
331) until May 29, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. More details are on the website
at http://www. asianust.ac.th/bamshow09 /index.html
At the opening night, on May 7, local press, friends and families were
able to meet the students and university staff and learn more about the
work.
Poster by Fai catches the eye. |
Netty’s cartoon story. |
Fourth year BAM students
pose for a group photo.
Off the Cuff Day raises
32,200 baht for orphanage
A big thank you to
everyone. (Photo by Wanicha Thornton)
On Saturday the 16th May a last minute discussion
resulted in a day out for the children of the Baan Jing Jai Orphanage
and a very useful 32,200 baht bonus towards the running cost of this
very worthwhile establishment that looks after some 60 children of all
ages.
The day began with a trip to the beach at Sattahip with the aid of one
of Lewiinski’s golf mini-buses, courtesy of Colin Davis, at 9.15 am. The
weather of late was a worry and with rain on the way down to the beach
even more so, but on arrival at the beach the rain stopped and for the
next 3 hours the kids had a great time playing in the sea with canoes,
rubber rings and the odd banana boat ride thrown into the bargain, under
the instruction of Mikael Andersson I might add, who thought it better
to go on the last banana boat himself in case further instructions were
required!
Despite a very large snack bag and coke for each child on the beach,
playing in the sea obviously gave them an appetite because they were
keen to get to the second half of the day being arranged at the Haven
Hotel. So we packed up and after an area cleaning sweep of the beach
where we were all gathered and departed for Pattaya.
On arrival at the Haven Hotel, we were met by Stephen and Lamyai who
greeted the children and gave them all drinks and the run of the
swimming pool area. After spending 3 hours at the beach, you would thick
that they had had enough of the water, but the swimming pool at the
hotel was soon being invaded by eager kids wanting to play more in the
water.
Lamyai then provided a running buffet that must have kept the chef
working for some time because some of the children made several return
visits to the buffet and forced the chef to crank up the kitchen even
after he thought he had long since finished.
The day was rounded off by Stephen and Norman Isherwood collecting from
guests staying at the hotel and casual visitors alike. This added to
funds already collected by a donation box on display at the Haven, funds
from Lewiinski’s Hidden 6 golf competitions and a very impressive
anonymous donation from a gentleman known only as Big Jim, resulted in
the presentation of the 32,200 baht to Piangta who runs the Baan Jing
Jai Orphanage. In addition, Kenny Priddy turned up with some 30 football
type shirts for the children. A very worthwhile day indeed, and a big
thank you to everyone involved, God Bless you all.
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