Statement Concerning the Recent Freshmen High Table Dinner

Statement concerning the recent Freshmen High Table Dinner

After days of arguments and criticisms on the delay and wrongful behaviour of hall mates in the Freshmen High Table Dinner on 30th August, 2015, the Executive Committee finds it necessary to account for the delay and its opinions on what regular High Table Dinners and Freshmen Table Dinner shall be like.

A break session from 18:00 to 18:30 after registry of teams was intended to serve as a buffer time, and the admission of hall mates to Ho Tim Hall for the Freshmen High Table Dinner was planned to be till 19:00 (the estimated official starting time of the Dinner), with the assumption that groups which finish registry earlier will get down Ho Tim Hall earlier to prevent crowd accumulation; and that groups finishing late will have enough time for changing clothes and travelling to Ho Tim Hall without meeting lift jams.

Unfortunately and unexpectedly, groups spent much more time than we anticipated on dressing up. It was until 19:13 that the first group got ready at pantry and, in the end Ho Tim Hall was only ready for admission of honorable guest, tutors and executive committee members at 20:00.

By that time, we urged group leaders to keep the souvenir exchange session at 8 minutes and did not plan to cut the playing of 5-minute video prepared by each group, after the consideration that it was a Freshmen High Table Dinner and that souvenir exchange and playing of video were the main focuses of the Dinner marking the very end of the Orientation Camp. It was also known that Stargazer performance must be able to finish within 30 minutes. Thus, before the start of the Dinner we expected it could finish at 22:00 hopefully and Ho Tim Hall could be handed over to Lady Ho Tung Hall at 22:15, given we could clear up the tables and chairs during Stargazer performance and between 22:00 and 22:15.

It was until around 21:30 that there were still some groups’ videos yet to be played and Stargazer performance. We found it necessary to cut the duration of playing of groups’ videos to 3 minutes and the performance of Stargazer. In the end, after communicating with at least one group leader from each group and with Person-in-charge of Stargazer, both sides agreed the cut of some parts, in order to hand over Ho Tim Hall to Lady Ho Tung Hall in time.

It has been made very clear, from Consultation to Mass Briefing of Orientation Camp, that we need to hand over Ho Tim Hall to Lady Ho Tung Hall afterwards. Yet due to our failure to allow enough buffer time in our schedule, such over-run occurred, making Orientation Camp end with such an incident. We regret that group video cannot be fully played and Stargazer cannot perform all you have been practicing for months. Here we need to send our gratitude to both group leaders and Stargazer for your cooperation and understanding