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The Education UK Exhibition taken last year.

Interested in furthering your studies in the UK?

The Education UK Exhibition enables you to meet representatives from 40 UK Universities, attend super helpful seminars, chat with UK alumni and find plenty of useful information. Plus, there will be amazing goodies to bring back home too!

You’ll also get plenty of advice from representatives of the participating institution such as course fees and accommodation and perhaps more tips while studying abroad. I’ve never been to the UK for studies and it’s the most popular destination for Bruneians to further their studies. With the A results being released recently, this is a great opportunity for students to scout for the right course. Also involved is the Ministry of Education to cater for Scholarship prospects from Brunei. Hence the Scholarship Unit and the National Accreditation Council will be there for assistance. I would highly recommend The Education UK Exhibition hosted by the British Council.

So remember to join us on Sunday, 21 February 2016 at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall, The Empire Hotel from 2pm to 7pm.

Don’t forget to pre-register at https://bn.edukexhibition.org and stand a chance to win a SMART TV – we’ve got two up for grabs! See you this Sunday!

 

The National Day march practice earlier this morning. Associates of BIBD taking part in the march. Image courtesy of @marul69

The Ikrar team practising at the Taman SOAS

About 21,000 people are expected to participate in the 32nd National Day celebrations at Taman Hj Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien in the capital.

Permanent Secretary of Culture, Youth and Sports Dato Paduka Dr Hj Affendy Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Hj Abidin said 126 teams will be involved in the parade including 7,000 students, 5,000 people in the march past while 500 people will make up thehadrah team.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday, he said uniformed personnel, government agencies, the private sector and non-profit organisations will take part in the march past.

In his capacity as co-secretary of the celebration’s executive committee, Dato Dr Hj Affendy said the National Day theme of “Generasi Berwawasan” (Visionary Generation) has been retained this year.

He added that the full dress rehearsal for the celebrations will take place on February 20.

Assistant Chief of Adat Istiadat Pg Dr Hj Hidup Pg Hj Samsuddin reminded guests to confirm their attendance to the department as soon as possible.

He said invitations are non-transferrable and guests must adhere to the prescribed dress code.

Members of the the public were urged to attend the thanksgiving prayers and recitation of Surah Yaasin that will take place in the afternoon of February 22 at all mosques and prayer halls across the country, with the focal point at Masjid Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien in the capital.

Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) Senior Superintendent Hj Md Hassan Pehin Penyurat Hj Ahmad, acting director of the Traffic Investigation and Control Department (JSKLL) said several car park areas need to be vacated before the National Day parade begins starting today till February 23. These areas include the Madrasah car park, the car park area along Jln Kianggeh, Jln McArthur, Jln Sultan, Jln Stoney, Jln Sumbiling, Jln Pehin Isa, Jln Pengiran Shahbandar, and Jln Istana Darussalam. Motorists can use alternative car park areas including the road along Jln Kianggeh towards Jubilee Hotel leading to Jln Subok and along Jln Residency towards the Arts and Handicrafts Centre leading to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He said four locations have been identified as drop-off points for participants from education institutions, government agencies and private sector that use buses. These locations are the bus terminal on Jln Cator, Jln Bendahara, Jln Pehin Dato Isa and Jln Sumbiling. Text courtesy of Rafidah Hamit of The Brunei Times.

The Brunei youth practising their ikrar at a car park area

The ladies representatives for the ikrar practising at Tennis National Centre

Team RB march practice in town earlier today

 

Wow, our friend Derby Teo @derbilicious made a surprise visit to her old club, Brunei Speakers’ Club, last week. She’s currently studying in Seoul, Korea, under a scholarship program. Kudos for winning Table Topics last week. To read more, you can click on the image.

Did you know that we actually have a blog for recaps on our Brunei Speakers’ Club (toastmasters) weekly meetings? It’s not just one person behind the scene that keeps the blog updated on a weekly basis and I’m happy to be one of the contributors. We are divided into three roles per week – the copy writer, photographer and proof reading. The club’s Vice-President of Public Relations, Gerald Goh, has been the main person manning the club’s website for this term and he has done a tremendous job so far. And the same can be said for his team players for helping the tasks needed to maintain the blog/recaps. Keep it up..

For those interested to attend our Toastmasters meeting, it’s every Tuesday evening 7:30pm at Seameo Voctech. There will be guest fees of BND 5 and for students, it will be BND 3. The membership presence have been very encouraging and one of the highest for Brunei Speakers’ Club in many years. It’s always great to know my fellow friends willing to learn of being a leader and a communicator. So far my mentees are Shafiq (UBD Toastmasters), Heidi and our new member Syatrah 🙂 Thank you in believing in me to help you guide in your journey as a toastmaster.

If you want to read our recap meeting for last week, you can click here for the blog entry.

The faces of Table Topics Speakers last week at Brunei Speakers’ Club

 

Yee Chun Leong of The Brunei Times taking photo of the Brunei delegates heading to Sri Lanka in March 2016.

Mohd Aiman Abdullah (C) with Kieran Lai (L) and Harry Kwang at the National Tennis Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas. Lai and Kwang will be joined by Ben Sii at next month’s ITF World Junior Tennis Competition in Sri Lanka, where they will be coached by Aiman. Image courtesy of Yee Chun Leong of The Brunei Times.

Definitely not me (for Sri Lanka). I just follow Aiman’s training session with the youngsters on a daily basis. As you may have read today’s paper in The Brunei Times, Brunei will making a presence in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) World Junior Tennis Competition in Sri Lanka this coming March.

Three Bruneians will be presented by Ben Sii, Harry Kwang and Kieran Lai and they will compete in the pre-qualifiers for both singles and doubles. They have been very busy will the training sessions as a group and also have individual sessions with Aiman Abdullah, their head coach. This is a great move for the juniors to participate as it will give them a sense of exposure in terms of competing among the best juniors around the world. For the your info, it has been a while since Brunei took part in the competition overseas and I know the juniors are pretty excited and nervous at the same time. All in all, it will be a great experience for them regardless of the outcome of the matches.

Aiman has been approaching his training methods to accommodate the standards of the our juniors. We may not be the level where regional players are but it’s a good start that tennis is slowly becoming a growing sports in the country and thumbs up to Aiman for his dedication, commitment and contribution to the tennis community in Brunei.

Also big thanks to the parents and families of the participants for allowing them to travel with Aiman for the competition in Sri Lanka. Special thanks to Armtrix Enterprise for sponsoring the tracksuits. They will be heading to Sri Lanka on 2nd of March for at least a week.

Apart from the usual training, Aiman also dedicated a special slot for juniors especially the newbies ages 5 and above every Friday from 5 to 6pm. The responses have been encouraging and hopefully we can find new talent in the making in tennis. I may be in my early 40s but man, tennis is still my passionate sport. So you can catch me there most of the late afternoons at the Brunei National Centre. A big thank you to Aiman for training me and the juniors too. It does make me feel much younger minus my fitness level 😀

Ben Sii will be joining as well

Group photo yesterday with Aiman Abdullah, Brunei’s No.1 tennis player, Ian Chok (grey top), national tennis player, and the trainees – Sin Yi, Henry, RA, Rahul, Zen, Kieran, Tim and Harry

Aiman helping out with the session with the beginners every Friday at Tennis National Centre

Rahul taking some time to pose as a tennis umpire but only for show :p