my involvement in ne shows





i have been involved in ne shows, since way back in the 80s. it was expectedly messier than it is today; i am referring especially to the dispersal and the transport arrangements for ferrying the pupils back to school. then, i was taking charge of secondary three students. we did not have parent helpers; we had our own teachers to manage the students. in the first year, there was no army personnel attached to the school group.

we had to arrange our own buses to ferry the students there and back. fortunately, because of my other involvement, in track and field, i was very familiar with the stadium layout. i knew where the entrances and exits were and the location of the various car parks. i also knew how warm it could be sitting for hours at the terraces.

although we were given instructions to arrive at the stadium by 3.30 p.m., we took our time so that we did not arrive too early or else we would have to 'bake' in the afternoon sun. we delayed our moving to the terraces for as long as possible by staying longer in the concourse - the holding area.

when the show ended, we did not rush with the rest towards the exits. there was no order of exiting from the stadium; when you were ready, you moved out. from our experiences at syf and our participation at national day parade, we knew that movement would be smoother after the first wave had moved out. so, we waited for the initial rush to be over before making our move.

before the show ended i would have gone out to ascertain the locations of our own buses: where they were parked and which was the best route to take to get there. it was impossible for the buses to be parked together, so we had to cover quite a big area while looking for our buses.

even in those days, we would reach school just before midnight.