Tuesday 13 October 2015

Getting ready for Hutchings 2015


As a run-up to the bicentenary celebrations of the Penang Free School, let's give the Press something to write about! Let's give the Press a whole crowd of people at the Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road! This year is the 199th anniversary of the School's founding. Will anyone be willing to join me at the Protestant Cemetery next Wednesday (21 October 2015) morning? I've been going there since three years ago, and I should be there again next week.

The commemoration service at Hutchings' grave will start at seven o'clock sharp, and the prefects from the Free School will be there with two or three teachers. Sometimes, there'll also be a few representatives from the Hutchings School itself, as well as one or two parishioners from the St George's Church.

If you plan to be there, please arrive before 7a.m. If you find the main gate open, that means the congregation has already gone in. But no matter, just walk straight in and follow the path when it veers left. You'll then see the people far away to your right.

I'll even encourage you to spend some time wandering around the cemetery after the service is over. There is history buried here. Go look around and you'll even find the resting place of Francis Light. It's recorded on his grave that he passed away on the same date as the founding of Free School - 21st October - but a different year, that is, 1794.

My previous posts on remembering Hutchings here, here and here.



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