L-R : my father, the birthday boy, Damia, brother Tai Keat's granddaughter (Fatini's daughter), Aisha Woon, brother Tai Hou's grand daughter (Sean's daughter).
L-R: Steve, brother Tai Hou's younger son, my Father the birthday boy and Sean, brother Tai Hou's elder son, also the MC for the evening.
Sean's daughter Keira Woon trying to give greatgrandpa a big kiss!
Welcoming address by my nephew Sean Woon whose ability as the MC was beyond my expectations. Well done, Sean!
"Ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Sean Woon Wei Yung. I am the fourth grandchild of my grandfather. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome all our relatives and our very close friends to my grandfather’s 100th birthday celebration. On behalf of my Father, Mother, my Uncles, Aunties, my Sister, Brother and all my cousins, I can’t thank you all enough for sacrificing your valuable time to be with us tonight in this joyous family occasion.
Most of us here are related by blood ties (probably about 70% of us here) or by marriage ties. However, some of us may not have met one another for quite a while, and some of us may have never even met before, mainly because of our geographical distances. I would therefore encourage all my cousins, relatives and friends to mingle around and take this rare opportunity to touch base and to get to know one another a bit better. Among my grandfather’s 16 grandchildren, all are here today, with the exception of our cousin Dr. Freeda Woon who is in London pursuing her specialist program and could not take time off to come home. But I am sure her heart is here with us.
Tonight’s event will start off with the cutting of the birthday cake. During the cutting of the cake I hope you will all sing together to wish our grandfather a very happy birthday. He certainly deserves some special gesture after waiting for 100 years! After the cutting of the cake the “SHOU PAU” or longevity buns in the shape of a peach will be served, together with the “SHOU MEEN” or longevity noodles and the red-coloured eggs. According to Chinese culture, peaches and noodles symbolize long life, health and prosperity while coloured red eggs symbolize new life. It is believed that anyone who has eaten a longevity peach would live as long as a 100 years! So I hope you will all try to eat up the pink peaches together with the noodles and the eggs.
We have also prepared for each of you to take back a small red packet, a "SHOU" Chinese Rice Bowl, a pair of Chopsticks and a Spoon, which is a symbolic gesture that the birthday person is giving to our guests a lot of wealth and plenty of food to be had always with those rice bowls, chopsticks and the spoons. Thanks go to my cousin Farah for the gift wrapping.
We will also be showing a video, A Retrospective of a Man Who Had Lived a Century Long. The credit for producing the video goes to my cousin Feris, who is my Grandfather’s third grandchild.
Once again, thank you so much ladies and gentlemen for spending your valuable time with us and please relax and enjoy the evening".
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