On Friday, 22nd December 2006, we celebrated Christmas in Pandan Valley with "an evening of food, wine and song" ... "in appreciation of the fine people of MCST 581".
To make sure we get "the movers and shakers" of the condominium community to show up, we sent out personalised invitations to over 130 residents-cum-owners - people who have served in Management Council or attended a general meeting at least once in the past 6 years, offering them two complimentary admission tickets each.
We also invited a handful of new resident-owners who had bought into Pandan Valley in the past 6 months.
Others had to pay S$10 per admission ticket to attend the function which cost S$20 per head to put together.
Here in this photo, you see new resident-owner Mr George J Palathinkal, CFO for AT&T (Asean/India), warmly welcomed by Condominium Manager Laurence Chen, Management Council treasurer Annie Tok, MC secretary Koh Foong Yin and myself, as MC Chairman.
It was a fun and happy function. The food was good. The live music from the strolling musicians - and a guest performance - added much to the atmosphere, lending the evening a touch of class. The wine was good too, in a few ways.
See that glass of wine in my hand as well as Laurence's too? It lifted spirits, and contributed to a good cause - an orphanage in The Philippines - as S$1 out of every glass sold at S$5 went to charity. We had a charity auction too, where we auctioned off bottles of champagne, wine and whisky and household goods like a Cornell Microwave Oven sponsored by the condo's service providers!
It was great having an event like this for it breaks the pattern of people meeting or coming together only when there are issues or problems to be dealt with.
Thank God for Christmas!
