Light A Lantern, Warm A Heart — Annual KWSH Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration 2018

The annual “Light A Lantern, Warm A Heart” Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration is an event highly anticipated by KWSH residents and their loved ones, as well as staff and supporters of the Hospital alike. This year’s event marked the first time the celebration returned to our iconic Pavilion Garden since the completion of our redevelopment. The event was held on 15 September 2018 and Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence, graced the occasion as Guest Of Honour (GOH).
 
On this special occasion, we also celebrated the launch of the KWSH heritage storyboard, produced in partnership with the Urban Redevelopment Authority as part of the completion of the conservation of the historical buildings within the Kwong Wai Shiu compound. The storyboard was unveiled by GOH, Mr Heng Chee How, who is also the local MP for Jalan Besar GRC (Whampoa Division), and Chairman of KWSH, Mr Patrick Lee.
 
Following the storyboard’s unveiling, Mr Heng, along with KWSH’s Board of Directors and representatives from the various Cantonese clans and associations, officiated a light-up ceremony to kick-start the evening’s festive celebrations. The ceremony even had a touch of eco-friendliness with some beautiful traditional revolving lanterns (走马灯) made from recycled egg trays!
 
On this night, the entire KWSH premises had been elaborately decorated with beautiful lanterns hand-painted by our passionate volunteers. Among the lanterns stood 19 Kong Ming lanterns which included a gigantic one that was 3-metre tall. The giant lantern first debuted at our Mid-Autumn event in 2015, with our largest lanterns prior to that being less than 1-metre tall. Back in 2015, when Singapore was having all-year celebrations to mark our 50th National Day, Kwong Wai Shiu introduced the largest ever Kong Ming lantern in Singapore and had our well-wishes for the nation penned on the lantern. Such was the crowd’s fervour toward the giant lantern that it became a mainstay in our subsequent Mid-Autumn celebrations and would always be the most eye-catching element of the whole evening. As the sky lanterns were raised into the air, our participants marveled in excitement, busily clicking on their cameras at the magnificent sight to behold. Eventually raised to a height of more than 9 metres, the Kong Ming lanterns dazzled like mega glittery diamonds in the night sky.   
 
In line with KWSH’s community hub concept and the Mid-Autumn Festival’s theme of reunion, the event saw a happy gathering of KWSH residents and their family members, community elderly from the nearby Whampoa precinct, clients from our Senior Care Centre, members from our community care centre KWS Care @ McNair, as well as partners, friends and staff of KWSH. Under the tender care of the nursing staff and the volunteers, our wheelchair-bound and even bed-bound residents also came out from their wards to join in the celebrations with everyone else. It was indeed a grand reunion for the extended Kwong Wai Shiu family under one roof, or rather, under one beautiful night sky.
 
There were heartwarming sights of families and friends taking part in the activities and enjoying traditional snacks together. Besides the lanterns and traditional snacks like mooncakes, there was also a lotus pond where participants could set sail a lotus each and make a wish in the process. Over at the stage area, the many performances put up by our talented team of volunteers added to the festive joy and helped to create the perfect celebratory atmosphere. For many of the KWSH residents, their favourite activity was the Lantern Walk where they held lanterns and toured around with our volunteers and their loved ones.
 
All around us, everyone was high in spirits and deeply immersed in the festivities. The bright smiles and joy on the faces of the participants were a testament to the success of this Mid-Autumn celebration. KWSH would like to thank all donors and volunteers for making this event possible through their generous contributions and tireless efforts respectively.