2007 Officers, Primers and NCOs Retreat
-First Sibu Company
Written by L/Cpl Wong Teck Siang, photographed by L/Cpl Cheng Haw Jeng

1 st Sibu Company organised its 2007 Officers, Primers and NCOs Retreat on the 29 th to the 30 th of September 2007. This event is held at Methodist Centennial Park , Sibu which is located at 18 miles, Oya Road , Sibu. About 60 officers, primers, NCOs and a few senior Privates attended this 2 days 1 night retreat. The main aim of this retreat was to have discussions about our Company's programmes for next year. 1 st Sibu Company is going to celebrate its 40 th Anniversary in 2008 and is hoping to achieve better targets for the 40 th year of our Company. Hope that 2008 will be a successful and fruitful year for 1 st Sibu.

DAY 1

All the Officers, Primers, NCOs and senior Privates participating in this retreat gathered at Wesley Methodist Church , Sibu early in the morning before departing for our retreat venue at about 8:30 a.m. After arriving at the Methodist Centennial Park , all the participants were allocated to their own rooms. At about 10 a.m., we started the programmes of our retreat.

After having a simple singspiration led by the NCOs, the Seniors were divided into 5 groups while the Primers were separated into 3 groups for group discussions. Each group was supervised by an Officer. The first topic of our discussion was “Review & Evaluation” for the year 2007. An hour of discussion was soon over and each group took turns to present their discussion results. After each presentation, there would be a session of “Questioning & Answering” (Q&A).

At 12 noon, we had our lunch and took some rest. After a short singspiration led by the senior Privates, we proceeded to our next discussion topic at 1:30 p.m. This time, we were discussing on the tentative programmes for next year. Again, after a 60-minute-long discussion within our separate groups, we had our presentation and Q&A session.

After dinner, all of us gather again in the conference room. All the members participating in the retreat were given briefings on the events and programmes that will be carried out throughout the year 2008 for our Company's 40 th Anniversary Celebration. Then, we were asked to arrange the programmes or events for the year 2008 and suggest the programmes we are going to have for the 2008 Recruitment. We presented our proposals and suggestions.

DAY 2

As early as 6 o'clock in the morning, all of us went for a short morning exercise. Then, all the Senior members and the Primers had a short drill session as well as marching. It was actually quite tiring.

After breakfast, we assembled in the conference room again. Both the Senior and the Primer sections were asked to form immediate committees to carry out and put our suggestions into actions. The committees formed were to be put in charge in organising programmes and events for the year 2008.

Through this retreat, all of the participants had had fellowship with one another and made several new friends. We also closed up the relationship between the Senior and the Primer sections, plus the Officers. Furthermore, we learnt some new songs during the singspiration.

At 10:30 a.m., all of us checked out from our rooms and were soon on our journey home at 11 o'clock in the morning. We arrived at Wesley Methodist Church at approximately half past 11 and went home in our separate ways, but in our hearts, all of us brought back “missions” and “hopes” to be accomplished for the year 2008, our 1 st Sibu 40 th Anniversary Celebration!