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Posts in category Tai Shing 1971
Unforgettable Vacation Times in 2017
Written by It has been a year since I last posted an article in the blog of CTSS website and since then the website had been dormant. To make our website active, I decided to write a short article again.
Recently, I made two trips for visiting Toronto and places in California, and the purpose of the trips was not just for vacation but an opportunity to meet with those long missing schoolmates who reside there.
The Toronto trip was in early June, and it was accompanied by our classmate Paul Chan and his wife, Stella, who came from California. I stayed in Toronto for only two days and had an enjoyable dinner with many teachers and schoolmates.
June 4, 2017 Toronto
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In mid October, I made another trip for about ten days to California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah, and needless to say it was also exciting. Paul Chan, who resides in San Francisco, did a good research and recommended a local tour for me to join for sightseeing in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, and Lake Powell.
Los Angeles gathering
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San Francisco and Golden Gate Bridge
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14 Oct 2017 Las Vegas |
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15-16 Oct 2017 Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon
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Antelope Canyon |
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It is not my intention to write exclusively in this blog to tell about my personal vacation but just want to post some beautiful pictures of these famous attractions taken while I was there, and the gathering photos at the dinner which I had not only with our dear classmates but also with those senior schoolmates who graduated before the year of 1971. They are all eloquent people! When seeing these long missing faces in the photos, I do hope it can bring back the good memory we had in the old school days to all of you.
Because we had to pay for renewing the website last year, I hope my article will encourage more classmates to write not only to add fun but to prove the value of the existence of CTSS website.
Knowing that there will be a hiking forthcoming on November 12, which will be joined by many classmates, plus another whole day of activity to welcome the return of Aida Wong back to Hong Kong for visit, I am looking forward to reading some interesting articles from these events so that I can share the joyful moment with you from the other side of the globe.
Thanks and regards,
Wong Tak Kwong
An Exciting Memory for Celebrating the 45th Graduation Anniversary
It is good to know that the website of CTSS 71 has been renewed for another 5 years to allow the classmates to stay in touch closely with each other and to be informed of any activity which we may have in the future.
Since I last posted an article in the blog in 2013, I was thinking it should be time for me to do it again. Coincidently, it happened that we recently had a 45th year anniversary class reunion celebration which was a tour on Lantau Island for 2 days on October 13 & 14, 2016. Also, the celebration was followed by an anniversary dinner on October 15. Since a lot of things had happened during the two events, I decided to simply describe the events and tell something about my feelings in order to share them with other classmates who were unable to join us for the fun.
The itinerary started on October 13, met the group at Tung Chung where we were transported by a cable car to Ngong Ping for about 25 minutes to the top of the plateau. The cable car ride is a 5.7 km long crossing the Tung Chung Bay in the air towards North Lantau, browsing various views such as close distance from South China Sea, the Tian Tan Buddha Statue, a grassland slope and a mountainous terrain of Lantau Island. The cable car I rode was a crystal cabin equipped with a glass bottom, and riding inside enabled me to experience an astonishing bird’s eye view so it was quite a soaring experience but scary.
The cable car ride ended at Ngong Ping Village which is just adjacent to the cable car terminal. The village is an impressive cultural themed village that comes with many attractions such as “Stage 360”, “Motion 
360” (which is a 5D movie theatre for visitors to experience amazing and breathtaking effects), a path for hiking which is called “Walking with Buddha”, and of course restaurants and souvenir shops to satisfy visitors’ demands.
The second day on October 14 was a tour in Tai O, which is famous for its natural scenes and historical sites, and we also took a motorboat ride sailing around the bay of this fishing village.
In general, the exclusive spots being picked by the organizing committee were top picks which allowed me to refresh my memory of a camping at YMCA with my classmates from art class on Lantau Island, led by our class master Mr. Siu during the final year of my secondary school. For the October 2016 trip, I was so excited that this time it was also joined by many classmates from science class. Classmates who returned from overseas were Kimball Yip, Paul Chan, Johnny Shum and me.
The anniversary dinner on October 15 was a very successful one, filled with joy and affectionate speeches from the teachers and oversea classmates, including myself, ha ha! There were lucky draw at the dinner with gifts sponsored by the enthusiastic classmates although I was not lucky enough to win one.
Before I end this message, I wish to see that more articles to be posted by other classmates in the website, not necessary to be for a specific topic, but just something interesting, or to express a feeling on what has happened to them which can be shared with other classmates in order to make the existence of this website valuable.
Thanks and stay in touch.
Tak Kwong Wong
深圳一天旅遊 2016年11月3日
今日天朗氣清，風和日麗，早上氣溫20 度，午後23 度，極度適合郊遊。十四位團友準時在關口集
合。食brunch 的金皇廷酒樓裝修豪華，地方寬闊，點心尚算精美。
東門是深圳最早的市集，有第一間的深圳戲院，更是全國第一間的McDonald 所在地。鄰近的京基100大廈，狀似鬚刨，樓高100層，現為深圳最高的樓宇。東門步行街現在是購物熱點，更是港人做窗簾及衣服的首選。亞Paul 在地下商場以驚喜價 ￥115買了支「容祖兒金咪」，值得慶賀。
到蓮花山公園時，兵分兩路，一支上山觀看鄧少平銅像及俯望深圳地標之市政府大樓，另一組沿平路到蓮花湖看錦鯉及水上單車。上山組員以驚人速度，不消半小時便匯合山下隊友。
下午茶時間，快餐店的雲呑麵不合格，雲吞不是用鮮蝦，麵身不夠爽，燒雞亦稍為過燶，唯送餐服務值得讚賞。到了大出血的Sams Club 時間，以團購方式買雲南雲耳，亦不忘參加各種試食。
晚飯在皇軒酒店的福鼎軒酒樓食海鮮，有茶葉蝦，薑蔥蟹，椒鹽九肚魚，片皮鴨，石頭窩海鮮豆腐等，又有啤酒及汽水，算是過得去。
全程坐了三次地鐵及兩次巴士。不計個人消費，三餐共用了約二千元（人仔）。沈正成同學其實亦已探明下次聚會之K場高歌，其中唱K 的消費和環境對比香港更具吸引力。我們隨意選了加卅紅作瞭解，它們在平日由中午12 時至晚上七時會員價豪華大房(可容10-12人）收費是￥90。食品和飲料自理。這￥90不是按小時計算而是整個時段，房間寛敞又有衛生間。因此我們願意進行實地驗證，稍後高國芬會在群組發出通知何時擇吉出發，歡迎大家踴躍參加。
網誌由蕭sir及沈正成提供，洪耀光插圖
開會詞 – 主席周桅
陳寶焯同學在收拾一些舊信件時，無意間找到了一頁發黃的單張，是校慶時派發給同學的講詞 ，相信已有五十年歷史，特別放上讓大家回味一下。
開會詞 – 主席周桅
Reunion dinner for Ms Helen Ho on 12th Dec 2014
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Ms Helen Ho, our History teacher in Form One and Form Two paid her second visit to Hong Kong after emigrating to Canada for more than a quarter of a century (in 1988). A reunion dinner was organized with the joint efforts of coordinators of the graduates between 1968 and 1971 on 12th Dec 2014. Ms Ho’s husband, Mr Lee Fen Nyan, Ms Chan Chun Kum, our English, Mathematics and Needlework teacher, and about thirty students showed up and recaptured the memories of the good old days in Tai Shing.
Before the dinner began, Ms Ho spoke to all and shared her life experiences in Toronto 
over the past 26 years. She taught ESL (English as a Second Language) to emigrants from countries in the Middle-East and the Far East. Their interest was sustained and met regularly at Ms Ho’s place even after her retirement in 2007. Apart from teaching, Ms Ho also volunteers in the Church services, including Fountain of Love and Life; organizes Satir Model workshops and follow-up sessions for participants to ensure their continuous growth. She has been engaged in a wide variety of activities making her golden age rich and colourful.
Ms Ho was particularly pleased to meet students she had been thinking of but had not seen for decades (more than 46 years, like Lam Bing Fong who graduated in 1968, Leung Koon Kwan in 1970).
Reunion with classmate Maureen Lai
“Are you Mrs. Chan, a teacher at Confucian Tai Shing Secondary School?” asked Maureen Lai. Mrs. Chan replied positively to her question. Luckily, Maureen could recognize Mrs. Chan at an occasion although she left school forty-three years ago. Mrs. Chan hasn’t 
changed much even though she is now an elderly. Mrs. Chan’s voice was deeply implanted into Maureen’s mind from her teaching.
Mrs. Chan met Adrian Hung the following week and she passed Maureen’s information to him. Adrian sent Maureen an email to welcome her. He also invited Cannie Tong to give Maureen a personal call. They were very excited and happy to talk to each other again.
Robert Chu visited Hong Kong from United States. We organized a welcome dinner for him on 10th Feb 2015. It was really a coincident that we also reunited with Maureen at the same time. We then invited Maureen to the welcome dinner too!
There were 16 of us attending the dinner which included our 
teachers Mr. & Mrs. Chan and Mr. & Mrs. Siu. We were too happy to meet Maureen again since our graduation. Robert came to visit us quite often but this time he brought his wife with him to the dinner. Adrian presented our 40th Graduation Anniversary DVD to Maureen.
We chatted and enjoyed the dinner and didn’t want to leave. We wonder who will be the next classmate that will rejoin us.
1967 Teacher & Student Signature Document for Dr. Irene Cheng’s Retirement
Written by I am delighted to share this signature document to all who visit the CTSS Alumni blog. The page was signed by the teachers and students as a gift to our principal Dr. Irene Cheng for her retirement in summer of 1967. It was forwarded to me after my visit to the new 
campus at Tai Po, NT in 1998. As I read every name, image of young faces gleamed with childhood innocence comes to life. What happened to our classmates after 1967, 1968 and beyond? It recaptures the moment of our youth and reminds me the lyrics of a song by the Carpenters in the early 70’s Yesterday Once More: … Those were such happy times, And not so long ago, How I wondered where they’d gone …
We drifted apart after graduation took paths of our choice, embarked on journeys that brought us where we are today. Whatever we have done, wherever we have gone, we have lived our life in our own way, a life that makes us happy and satisfied. A full circle back after some 45 years, I realize now that we have more in common than ever before. Our careers are coming to an end (or have ended) with the next generation taking over. We all belong to the group called senior citizens, entitled to Medicare, pension and senior discounts. We thought the stress level will ease off upon retirement not knowing that acquiring skills to navigate the digital world of iPhone, iPad, iCloud becomes our new challenge. The more we try to compare, measure up to our classmates, the more we found we all will ultimately arrive at the same destination. So if you feel the emotion and/or the burden of mid-life crisis or old age helplessness, you are not alone.
With utmost admiration to our teachers who had the passion and patience in educating young minds, with gratitude to my classmates who supported, antagonized, competed, embarrassed and challenged me in the past; may this document bring back the comfort, rekindle our love and friendship, laughter and fond memories of the times we were together. Let’s savor the experience and re-connect.
I would like to also remember our dear classmate Lanying Lau (1968) who passed away on 24 August 2013. As much as we grieve, we must value every moment of our lives.
Let me end with this quote: Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. Be of good cheer.
楊杏霖 (Teresa Kuan)(Year of 68)
kuan.teresa@gmail.com
1967 Teacher & Student Signature Document
A Delightful Reunion Message From TK Wong
It was a great pleasure to see so many classmates attending the dinner on May 15, 2013, 
and I particularly want to thank Adrian Hung for arranging this warm and enjoyable reunion for me. When Adrian requested me to write something (about 500 words) to post in the blog, I immediately felt like I was back in secondary school and was being asked to write a composition. I assume everyone must well remember that writing a composition was a headache, so I decided to simply start it with what had happened to myself since graduation because I feel I am obliged to tell my story to the classmates.
After I graduated from Confucian Tai Shing Secondary School, I had also completed a two-year matriculation but I was unable to attend further studies in Hong Kong because I immediately obtained a job with decent pay to work for an American company in Prince’s Building at that time. It was a marine insurance business and I was under the training of an English Average Adjuster. During the mid-year of 1975, my parents migrated to the United States but I was unable to join the family because the U.S. immigrant quota for Hong Kong citizens per year was limited which also had to be shared with other Commonwealth Countries.
When I arrived in the U.S. in November 1980, I first landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is in the Midwest. Minnesota is called the State with 10,000 lakes, and no doubt, Minneapolis is pretty, quiet, people with slow pace, and as known by its name, you can even find many lakes in the metropolitan area. After enjoying a little more than a year of fantastic life in Minneapolis, I decided to move from this inland State to New York for a better career. I was lucky enough to rejoin the same American firm which I worked for in Hong Kong. Since then, I have stayed in the same career as an Average Adjuster in the marine insurance field for all these years.
I came back to Hong Kong numerous times both for pleasure and business because my Company had clients here. I want to tell everyone that each time when I was in Hong Kong, I went back to visit Tai Shing Street. I took video and pictures there and with a hope that I could bump into one of my classmates on the street who still lives in the neighbourhood. I take this opportunity to thank my sister who forwarded me Tai Shing’s website and through visiting this website, I was able to contact and reunite with my old high school classmates.
The dinner on May 15, 2013 was a warm and enjoyable one and I was surprised that I could still recognize most of the classmates there which I miss for 42 years. I was also happy to see Ms Ho Po Yuen at the dinner because I was told by other classmates that this was the first time she showed up at the gathering. In my memory, Po Yuen was a quiet and shy person. I did not talk to her too much that night but it appeared to me that she was not as shy as when she was at school.
I was also impressed by other female classmates who showed up at the dinner. They are very active and sociable. Unlike in the old school days, I remember that it was hard for the girls to talk and get together with the boys. Am I right on this?
At the dinner, Irene Ko was one of the classmates to whom I wanted to talk to. As she was sitting across the table from me and I didn’t want to shout at the table. So, I planned to talk to her after the dinner. Since she left early, I have to save my words till now! ‘Irene, it seems you have changed a lot (of course for the good) and judging from the work you did for the committee you must have a bright and optimistic personality.’
I am glad to see that everyone looked great at the dinner – healthy, bright and with smiling faces. I wish everybody stays with these characters all the time as these are the essential elements we need in order to achieve longevity and happy lives.
I have deep sorrow to learn that we have lost three classmates and I want to send my condolences to their families.
This blog message is getting too long and boring so I decide to end it here. As my retirement is approaching, I wish we can keep closely in touch with each other and if time allows, I will try to participate in all your future activities. I also wish that the search for the other missing classmates by the committee members will eventually be successful.
TK Wong
30th May 2013
