This year’s first semester formal hall dinner for was held on the 13th of September in our very own dining hall. The formal clothes, the beautiful decoration, the pretty ladies and handsome young men, and the aura of the moment could have been savoured by only those who were a part of the event. The event started at about 7pm with the arrival of the SCRC and the JCRC.
First up was a speech from our Hall Master A/P Ho Yew Kee. The speech cum presentation included the motto of our hall, its organisational structure, information about the hall RFs and Non RFs, the hall administration and the awards won by the Rag and Flag teams.
He did a special mention of the 50th JCRC, The KEWOC, RAG & FLAG and the Yearbook Committees. Our Hall Master concluded his speech by asking all KEVIIans to call King Edward VII Hall their home.
Afterwards, there was a speech by the outgoing JCRC president Mr. Terence Chua. In his speech he gave a brief introduction of his JCRC and thanked them for the support they gave to him.
Then came the handing over ceremony where Terence passed on the KE flag, representing the responsibility of directing the hall, to our next JCRC president Mr. Raymond Lim.
Our present president Raymond delivered his speech during which he introduced his new committee for this academic year. He went on to explain his priorities and visions for our hall.
The new JCRC surprised us all when they started singing the five KE songs, together with ROCKE members, and led by the ever bubbly CD block head Jia Yan. For this short while, the KEVII hall spirit soared high and was felt so strongly that even one of our SCRC came on the stage to sing with the congregation.
After that, the dinner was finally served and everyone present savoured the exotic food given on this very prime occasion. Even the Vegetarian and the Muslim food were given the thumbs-up. The delicacies, the desserts, the various tastes, and the buzzing sounds of the people around made it a moment to remember. A freshman, Bregadeesh, later on said: “The FHD gave us an opportunity to know our hall better, the JCRC, the seniors, our batchmates and of course our dates - the every friendly seniors.”
His sentiment was echoed by many freshmen who attended the dinner. It was one of the only occasions where freshmen were required to find a senior from the same block as a date. Wow, this was quite some work, wasn’t it? In fact I had three rejections before I got my date; I never thought date finding would be such perilous job
While the residents were relinquishing a very good dinner, photos and videos of the Orientation Week, Rag day, the Float experience, Flag Day and many more were shown.
After this began the prize presentation ceremony. This year, KEVII attained the top honours for Flag Day, and clinched the Gold Award for collecting more than $50,000. The Vice-Head of the flag team, Chan Mun Joe presented the Gold Award to the Hall Master.
The Best Block award for Flag Day was determined by attendance, gross collection and collection per capita. This year’s joint winners of the Best Block award were E block and F Block. In addition, the Best Group award went to Kah Hsiong’s group from F Block. All award winners were warmly applauded.
For Rag Day this year, our hall won two awards, namely the Most Creative Float and most Environmentally Friendly Float. The Float Head, Fushan, presented these awards to the Hall Master. Lastly, the award for the Champion Block of the Inter-Block Games held in August 2007 was given to GH Block.
The Formal Hall Dinner was then officially declared closed, but it informally went on. Hundreds of flashes shot in and around the dining hall. It was like a photo session for the hours after the official event. People did not miss to immortalise this FHD, especially that everyone was well-dressed.
It was a very enriching experience for one and all. For the freshmen, it was their first step into a new world, while for the seniors, it was a day to remember the things they have done in hall over the past year.
