Kota Bharu parish's first event

KOTA BHARU : Come and Have Fun! The banner at the entrance to the Church of Our Lady of Fatima declared enticingly, welcoming parishioners and their friends to the First Parish Event, The Parish Food and Funfair held on July 17 with its theme: Towards a united parish.

This was the first overall parish activity involving everybody in the parish. Preparations had begun several months earlier, with the formation of the organizing committee under its chairman, Noel Clement.

Immediately after the Friday service that day, hundreds of parishioners surged out of the church eagerly, to participate and to enjoy themselves. There was a wide selection of food from delicious nasi lemak, nasi beriani and fried noodles to a variety of Kelantanese cakes and delicacies such as tapai and mouth-watering East Malaysian dishes prepared by the ladies of Kem Desa Pahlawan.

Besides the food, there were the games stations, manned by youths from the parish and from the Catholic Undergraduates Society, CUS. These young people had set up a variety of fun games — from biting apples to ‘fishing’ for aluminium cans floating in the water. There were games to test your skills, hoola-hooping, etc. which drew the kids and adults, all aiming to try their skills.

The most popular contest was the guessing game in which participants had to guess the weight of their Parish Priest! Another popular corner was the Jumbo jumble-sale.

All the while, the crowd was entertained by singers and crooners with their favourite Karaoke songs and requests. Music and songs were provided by live bands. Besides the resident parish band led by Paul Lai, there were also two guests bands, one from Kuala Krai led by Pastor Moses and the other from the Church of Hope, Kota Bharu led by Pastor Nick. Not to be outdone, musicians from Kem Desa entertained parishioners with some old numbers.

In the midst of the festivities, the children and their parents were entertained by a guest clown specially invited for the occasion. The fun acitivities of the day culminated in a final tug-of-war as children, youth, women and men pitted their strength on the field. Surprisingly, the Kota Bharu side put up a strong fight before succumbing to their opponents from Kem Desa.

This three and a half hour event was truly memorable.

[Photos and sharings on the day are available for viewing on our parish blog at OLFC@KB if you are a member of Facebook. OLFC@KB is open to all present and former members of the parish] — By Joseph Wang