By Mary-Ann Russon • UrbanWire
• email reporter• email story • printer friendly

Cheerful carnival music, bright smiles and lots of sunshine made up the atmosphere at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Fun Fair 2004. Held on Aug 6 and 7, from 11 am to 6:30 pm, the fun fair consisted of 5 novelty game stalls, 3 carnival rides, 3 "bouncy-castle" air-filled float attractions, a pavilion with live band performances, all at the NP rugby field, and a bazaar at the Atrium.

The 2-day event organised by the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Student Union and the Student Development & Alumni Relations Office (SDAR), raised about $42,000 for the Assisi Home and Hospice.

According to the NP Fun Fair Organising Committee Vice-Chairman Noor Mohammed, , the fun fair was conceptualised by Sear Hock Rong, Chairman of the organising committee and a 2nd year Early Childhood Education (ECH) student, who began recruiting students with experience in organising events in Ngee Ann, for the committee.

"We wanted a really radical idea - something that would be different but raise a lot of money for charity," said Noor Mohammed, a 2nd year Aerospace Technology (AT) student from the Mechanical Engineering division.

While the SDAR handled all the proceeds from the fun fair, the organising committee was tasked with overseeing logistics, a challenging job that involved training about 200 NP students who signed up to operate rides and collect money from patrons.

"I thought it would be a totally interesting experience," said 1st year Biomedical Science (BMS) student Goh Kai Ying, a helper at one of the novelty stalls. Other students said they were hoping to earn CCA points by participating in the event.

The bazaar stalls at the Atrium were also manned by students. The 6 academic schools were each invited to host a booth selling items like souvenirs, kachang puteh (mixed nuts), French loaves, ice cream cones and drinks.

All the schools rose to the challenge, sending in large teams of students who worked together doing their bit for charity. The schools were responsible for finding their own sponsors, an example being the School of Film & Media Studies's booth, which sold French loaves sponsored by Delifrance.

"There was a lot of competition between the booths," said Mary Violet Lores, a 3rd year Mass Communication student from the School of Film & Media Studies. "We had an announcer, CK [who yelled very loudly attracting customers], and we also had someone who would go around the Atrium promoting our booth. A lot of the students at the other booths were soon staring at us, and the best part was that our fastest record was 17 loaves sold in 20 minutes." The stall eventually sold more than $2,000 worth of bakery items.

"The NP Fun Fair was purely a students' initiative. I am proud of the excellent job that they did in putting the entire event together from scratch. Besides coming up with the idea and vision, they also displayed commendable qualities like leadership, tenacity, creativity and resourcefulness. Above all, they did it with a heart - to raise funds for the Assisi Home and Hospice," said Mr Chia Mia Chiang, NP's Principal.

Family Day also coincided with the fun fair, with every NP staff member being given $5 worth of fair coupons and on Saturday, competitions and performances were held on a small stage at the Atrium. "I purposely stayed for the Childcare performance, because I thought they were so cute and deserved encouragement," said Mrs Cheng Siew Hua, an administrator working in the NP Finance department. Her family bought about $50 worth of coupons.

"Students, staff and their family members let their hair down and revelled in all the fun activities [at the family day events]. I hope to see more of such family-bonding events as they will inject even more colour to the already rich campus life that we enjoy at Ngee Ann," Mr Chia added.

The children definitely seemed to be having the most fun, judging by the smiling faces and shrieks coming from the carnival rides, which were provided by Uncle Ringo Trading Pte Ltd, the biggest Carnival & Fun Fair organiser and operator in Singapore. They had kindly agreed to accept just 30% of the proceeds collected from the charity event. The other costs (almost $4,800) were incurred by the Student Union.

For the other people, there was an adult carnival ride, as well as live performances at the pavilion in the middle of the rugby field to look forward to. 22 punk rock bands were invited to perform during the 2-day event, and they played their hearts out for the crowd.

All in all it was an enjoyable and meaningful weekend, even though the approximately $42,000 worth of coupons sold fell short of their original $100,000 target, according to Hock Rong.

Click here to view the NP Fun Fair 2004 Photo Gallery.