Newsletter No. 48

CUHK Newsletter No.48 November 1993 The Pearl Reunion ——50th Anniversary Celebration Every fifth year this university enjoys a glow of pride as it celebrates another milestone in its history. This year it shares this pride w i th the more than 800 alumni attending the 30th anniversary dinner on 16th October. Comprising faculty members, trustees, council members, honorary graduates, benefactors and friends f r om all walks, the total attendance at the dinner, a high point in this year of celebration, was over one thousand. This 30th birthday party celebrates many firsts: the first gathering together of such illuminati in 30 years, the inauguration of the Un i- versity Convocation, the first donation to open an A l umni Fund.... So here we are on the very night of the event. The Subcommittee on Anniversary Dinner has gone into top gear as all of its many hours of planning and worrying come to the test. The first of the many planning m etings took place early in the year when we all cheerfully felt we had much time. The location for the event had been booked already and our very competent secretary, C. M. Tai, had compiled a detailed wo rk schedule. The use of the Convention Hall facilities together w i th catering and floral arrangements on each table was based on a fixed charge per head. As the event had to be self-financing, the need to break even weighed heavily and additional expenses had to be given careful consideration. We gave thought to the more recent alumni, now only on the lower rungs of their career ladders, and set ticket prices at a marketable rate. But what should be done to make up the shortfall if ticket income could not fully cover total expenses? H ow could we avoid further calls on the generosity of donors who had already contributed substantially towards the costs of the many other events celebrating the 30th anniversary? I n the end we succumbed to the old, old formula of asking friendly businesses and individuals to donate raffle prizes and enchanting young ladies to urge the wealthier amongst us to buy the raffle tickets in bulk — effectively a customer-administered multi-tiered pricing of tickets, w i th the added lure of prizes. The two gracious citizens on either side of me at my table, Drs Lee Shau-kee and Cheng Yu-tung, fulfilled this need most generously, as did many others. But it has become a very over-used solution and anyone who can create an innovative way of achieving the same ends deserves an accolade. Our designer, a recommendation from Hardy Tsoi, delighted us w i th his interestingly different backdrops for the stage and the simple purple drapery w i th pearls and shells on 6