The Diocesan Old Girls' Association HK

One of the major and final events in the DOGA calendar was our DOGA Homecoming Carnival, which was held at DGS in the afternoon of Saturday, 16^th December, 2000.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and a great many Old Girls from home and overseas returned for the event.  Many had not been to the School for some years - in some cases since leaving the School as a pupil - so there were many stories to be exchanged and memories to be renewed.

This year’s event began with a prayer from Bishop Thomas Soo and a short speech by President Vivian.  SIX past and present Headmistresses of DGS and DGJS - Dr. C. J. Symons, Mrs. Elim Lau, Mrs. D. Blomfield, Mrs. R. Yip, Mrs. S. Lau, and Mrs. E. Dai - together with DGS Supervisor and DOGA Past President, Mrs. Doris Ho, and Bishop Soo opened the Carnival with balloon popping.

Elim Lau’s Grounds and Decorations Sub-Committee ensured that School was decorated for the festive season.  They also made flyers available for all attendants, providing them with information of the location and events of the afternoon.

The Registration Sub-Committee under Connie Lung issued 3,359 admission tickets, although it is difficult to be certain of the actual attendance number due to participation from families of current girls and many friends and former parents.  A guesstimate put attendance at 5,000 or more.  And most important, the Registration Sub-Committee was able to update contact details for 758 Old Girls and enrolled a further 68 Old Girls to DOGA on the day. 

Anna Yeung and Pat Chow, along with their Hospitality Sub-Committee welcomed VIPs and former teachers with badges at the Hospitality Desk.  As you would expect, their Welcoming Desk and VIP tearoom was beautifully set up to match the festive mood.  All guests were made warmly welcomed and comfortable with snacks and drinks served by the members in the VIP tearoom.  

Sports Events were organized by Petrina Sun and her Sports Sub-Committee and these attracted a good gathering of Old Girls.  The Millennium Cup, won by the Sawyer House, was presented by Bishop Soo.  There was also an enthusiastic participation in the various Mother and Child competitions.  The netball match between the Old Girls and School ended in a draw, both teams scoring 8 points.  All players had such a good time that the Old Girls intend to organize regular matches with School from now on. 

Helen Wong and her Old Girls organized no less than 8 of the 14 games booths, along with the colourful marquees on the field and the virtual marquee for the Speech Day.  Special thanks are extended to the old girls (booth leaders and helpers) for years 1970, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 who contributed a lot of their time and effort in organizing the booths, soliciting prizes and manning the booths (with no time to enjoy themselves during the day of the Carnival).  The DOGA games booths raised a grand sum during the afternoon, of which the 1976, 1980, and 1981 booths were the top earners. 

Among the 20 stalls and booths selling souvenirs and other items, and a White Elephant stall, 8 were organized by DOGA under Shirley Chan and her Sub-Committee which took pre-order sales.  They sold a wide variety of items - windbreakers, watches, pen sets, crest pins, rings, scarves, mouse-pads, coasters, key chains, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and tote bags.  Apart from selling other donated items, the White Elephant Stall under Audrey Au also took charge of the Silent Auction and a “Guessing of the Hampers” game.  The leftover souvenir items were sold subsequently at DGS to the girls after the Carnival, mostly at cost.  Whatever was left was donated to DGS. 

Karin Ann and her Souvenir Programme Sub-Committee produced a beautiful souvenir programme, copies of which were enthusiastically snapped up.  The programme, which will be much treasured by all who managed to get hold of a copy, contains photographs and a history of the School, details of the 140^th Anniversary celebrations, notable achievements of Old Girls, interviews with past and present Headmistresses, as well as messages from former teachers.  There are also many class photos included.  Anyone who missed getting hold of a copy of this beautiful book should approach Karin Ann – there are a very small number left.  Karin also has a number of copies of the excellent memoirs of Dr. Symons.  

There were two well-attended guided tours of DGS/DGJS buildings and their Open House exhibitions.  Guests were most impressed by the professional introductions by the DGS/DGJS student ambassadors who led these tours.  

Among the highlights of the afternoon were of course performances by the DGJS Percussion Band and the Diocesan Graduate Singers, organized by Vivian Lau and her Sub-Committee with conductors Christina Chiang and Nancy Cheng.  And of course a high point of nostalgia for all Old Girls was the singing of the School hymn – what memories of pride and school day emotions went through each of us!

Tea, refreshments, and soft drink service were offered throughout the afternoon.  The high quality delicious food and service were organized by Grace Lam and her Catering Sub-Committee. 

Activities throughout the afternoon were videotaped through the kind courtesy of Commercial House of Shooting Gallery, friends of Tammy Goh who chaired the Audio Visual Sub-Committee.  And through the good PR arrangement of Esther Ma, the event was also reported in several newspapers.  SCMP and HK Economic Journal also interviewed Dr. Symons prior to the event.

Last by not the least, the Finance Sub-Committee headed by Ruby Sze and Maureen Au worked extremely hard throughout the afternoon with teachers and staff of DGS/DGJS and Old Girls and former parent helpers to record the money raised during the day.  Although the final amount is not yet available, it can reasonably be announced that an impressive amount has been raised by the Carnival.

Such a tremendous event could not have been possible without the support and hard work on the part of many, many people. DOGA would like to give special thanks to Josephine Chang, the Chairperson for the DOGA Organizing Committee for Homecoming Carnival, Grace Lau, Shirley Chan and Sheilah Chatjaval, the Deputies for the Organizing Committee, members of all Sub-Committees and their Chairpersons, and Advisors, for their dedicated, unfailing and strong support since February, 2000 when the idea of the Homecoming Carnival was first conceived.  All of these people worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices in personal time to make the dream come true. 

Also special thanks goes to all designers and donors for the events, in particular, Kay Wong who designed the beautiful T-shirt for the committee members to wear at the Carnival and Mr. Chiu Sin-Sing for having them made and who, together with President Vivian, donated them. DOGA would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Legal Sub-Committee who guided the Organizing Committee to run this event properly.  There are many many more to thank, parents, former parents, teachers, staff, current girls, etc.