St. Francis Association to operate from permanent premises

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 09:29

MALACCA: The St. Francis Association (SFA), established in 1917 will gain its very own premises this year, after a lengthy period of ‘floating around’ in rented venues.

A double storey building lot costing around RM365,000 at the new phase of the Taman Kota Laksamana has already been purchased. With further renovations and extensions coupled with furnishings and refurbishings to be undertaken in April, the association’s new home will be opened at a soft opening in the last quarter of 2012.

The premises to be known as Franciscan House will boast of a spacious visitors’ lounge open to all Franciscans and family members as well as La Sallians from all over Malaysia, the south-east Asian region, the near and far east.

The good tidings was brought into focus by SFA president Ong Eng Khiam in his welcome address at the Pay Fong Hall where close to 1000 Franciscans from all over the country and Singapore attended the New Year’s dinner.

“Since the association’s inception, the ever increasing membership has largely depended on rented space.

“With the association’s centenary celebrations coming up in March 2017, acquiring our very own premise is a priority.

“A couple of fund raising dinners will be organised in the middle of this year to raise further funds to meet the final cost of the proposed club house which is expected to touch the half million ringgit mark,” Ong said.

Ong also announced the extension of the “Big Brother’ programme launched early last year with the unfolding of the ‘Big Brother...Always There’ project.

The programme involves the participation of former students and supporters of Malacca’s St. Francis Institution (SFI), who provide advise, and assistance to students from the alma mater wishing to continue their tertiary education overseas, noted Ong.

The idea for an ‘old boys club’ was mooted by the late P.G. George Mathias Pamadasa, a form teacher and then senior assistant at SFI.

Supported by the then school principal Rev. Bro. B. Edward, the club took root after a 1917 pro-tem meeting, conducted in a classroom.

Club records reveal that a nominal subscription was charged with membership steadily rising over the years.

The club’s initial activities were confined to sports, namely football and table tennis with cricket, hockey and football added later.

There was no formal gatherings held for members, apart from friendly games and participation in domestic competitions, until 1922 when a shophouse was rented in Jalan Banda Hilir for regular meetings and fellowships.

Three years later, the club moved to a rented house in Jalan Chan Koon Cheng.

At one point, it even had to call the SFI assembly shed “home’ for five years beginning in 1927.

It moved to another rented house in the same vicinity where it remained from 1933 to 1939.

Since then the club has moved no less than four times, until 1955 when the Resident High Commissioner of Malaya H.G. Hammett declared open the P.G. George Mathias Memorial Building in Jalan Chan Koon Cheng where SFA settled in for a long spell.

But in 2007, the club moved out of the memorial building that was adjacent to the SFI primary school, to make way for a computer laboratory.

In the last four years, SFA has been occupying a rented shophouse in the first phase of Taman Kota Laksamana with crammed facilities for parlour games, meetings and gatherings.

The club also began renting at public and private venues for activities such as badminton, football, squash, darts, billiards and ballroom dance sessions.

“With a place finally to call home, we are confident that membership will steadily increase and at the same time the Franciscan spirit and solidarity will grow even stronger” added Ong.

From The Star