Legend of Aquila was held successfully last Saturday 3 Nov, 2012.
Over 1300 Alumni, current St. Johnians, friends and guests of the College gathered at the long table setting of the Grand Hall, HKCEC to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of St. John’s College.
The pre-dinner cocktail started at 5:30 pm with full bar and souvenir sales attracted many alumni coming early for the occasion. Beautifully designed photo booths mimicking the dining hall, students’ common room, student’s room and the Legend of Aquila centre stage stand were very popular photo spots for the alumni. Dinner just could not start till 7:30 pm as our alumni just could not want to miss the chance of taking pictures with their brothers and sisters.
“Yee Jie” started the dinner with the classic “din din” piano music and the doors of the Grand Hall were gradually opened unveiling the St. John’s dining hall long table setting with the night view decoration of our dining hall projected on the center stage. Our alumni were so amazed by the presentation and initially no one got into the Grand Hall!
After all the floor guests got seated, the 86 head table guests marched in after a group of green gown St. Johnians leading their way.
Then we followed the good tradition having Rev Paul Tong saying grace to the College and Legend of Aquila finally started with the 6 masters of the ceremony came up to the stage: Dr. Yeung Sum (3/F) and Ms. Anna Hui (9/F), Dr. Ball Wong (4/F) and Dr. Vanissa Chow (8/F), Mr. Clarence Shen (1/F) and Ms. Jennie Wu (9/F).
Dr. Eric Chong, the Master of St. John’s College firstly addressed the audience followed by Dr. Albert Chau, Dean of Students’ Affairs HKU and Mr. Vincent Chiu, Chairman of Legend of Aquila and SJCAA.
Then Dr. Yeung Sum invited all the chairmen of St. John’s to come on stage to lead the College Song. Afterwards, our guests of honour, included our two Patrons of the event Dr. Cho Kwai Chee and Dr. Alfred Tam, all the current and past Masters of the College including Rev Paul Tong, Rev Ian Lam and Prof Leung Koon Shing were invited to come on stage to a simple yet symbolic cake cutting ceremony.
The four course dinner then started with memorial slides show and music/songs of our times played at the background.
The night programs were split into three sessions with the themes showing the past, current and the future of St. John’s in these 100 years. Interview of our alumni Mr. Yuen Kwok Keung, Rimsky (6/F) (Secretary for Justice) and Rev Paul Tong to talked about their good old days at the College. Current students showing their talents by the band performance and dance. Then the fashion show of St. John’s both sports and floor wears followed.
In the future of St. John’s, both the Master Dr. Eric Chong and Dean of Students Dr. KC Wong disclosed to all the alumni about the future plan of building the Fourth Wing of St. John’s.
The dinner came to a high light when the Centennial choir members came while singing “O when the Saints go Marching in..”. Our Choir then first performed the Centennial song (心的契約) a new Cantonese song written by Mr. Lesley Chan Ka Hei (4/F) and lyrics by Mr. Kwok Tung Kit (1/F).
Legend of Aquila then came to its ending climax by asking all the different 10 floors of St. John’s to come up to the stage to sing one by one their floor songs. The biggest ever floor photo of each floor was taken at the same time.
At 11:30 pm, party ended with the College Song led by Dr. Yeung Sum. 1300 St. Johnians left the Grand Hall with the St. John’s centennial scarves on their beautiful dresses and suits; with the Centennial Song still hanging around their mouths; tons of centennial souvenirs in their shopping bags; plus all the sweet memories of this grand reunion and celebration in their mind.
We have created a legend for St. John’s – the Legend of Aquila.
SJCAA
P.S.
1. Photo of Legend of Aquila can be seen from the following link: www.facebook.com/legendofaquila . More photos are going to be uploaded and another platform will be set up for photo sharing to facilitate people who cannot access Facebook.
3. Please also visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpHvny99vT8 to see the full video presentation of our Centennial at the Legend of Aquila.
3. Some very limited remaining stocks like Wellington Wine (2007 Syrah), Red Wine Glasses, Champagne flutes, the Legacy from the Hill (history of SJC), CD’s will be for sales online soon, please pay attention to email in due course.
4. More than 500 alumni who have renewed your membership or joined SJCAA in Legend of Aquila, SJCAA will update our record in the database, emails will be sent out to you once all the data have been updated.
Acknowledgement:
Our Patrons: Dr. Cho Kwai Chee, Dr. Alfred Tam
Sponsors: Mr. Alan Cheung, Lee Kum Kee, Coca-Cola China Limited, CPS (HK) Ltd., Kent Knitters Limited
Special thanks to: HKCEC, On Stage Events & Communications Limited, Student Chris Tang Studio, Helpers from St. John’s College, St. John’s Publicity Team, SJC Centennial Choir, SJCSA
And the following individuals: Ms. Iris Au, Mr. Lesley Chan, Dr. Eric Chong, Dr. Vanissa Chow, Mr. Frederick Ho, Ms. Anna Hui, Mr. Tung-kit Kwok, Ms. Stephanie Lam, Ms. Huen-yee Lee, Mr. Paul Lee, Ms. Eugenia Lo, Mr. Clarence Shen, Dr. Chung-pui Tai, Prof. Lap-chee Tsui, Dr. Ball Wong, Mr. Henry Wong, Ms. Rainbow Wong, Ms. Jennie Wu, Dr. Sum Yeung
OC of Legend of Aquila: Mr. Vincent Chiu, Ms. Anna Hui, Ms. Vivian Lee, Mr. James Ho, Mr. Ken Too, Mr. Jason Leung, Ms. Jenny Pun, Ms. Adele Lok, Ms. June Au, Mr. Jacky Wong, Mr. Alvin Lo and Mr. Andrew Lee
And all those students and alumni who have put in effort in this event, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
