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Gian’s abuzz with PILC members
Gian’s was abuzz with activity on March 20, as 75 ladies
made their way to the restaurant to attend the PILC coffee morning. The
heavy downpour on the day did not in anyway dampen the ladies’ enthusiasm as
they busily went about their business. As the coffee mornings are very
casual, the ladies could be seen moving from one table to the other, meeting
new people or simply catching up with people they might not have seen for
some time.
Rosanne Diamente, president, extended a warm welcome to
everyone and announced upcoming activities.
The staff at Gian’s had the morning tea laid out as the
ladies came in. There was ample seating for everyone present, which made the
morning very comfortable indeed. It was a wonderful fare, the highlight of
course being the authentic Italian pizza that was served hot from the oven.
Surely many of the ladies will be back there soon to sample some more of the
delicious food. Don’t forget Gian’s offers PILC members 10 percent discount,
so remember to take your membership card with you!
Rosanne Diamente, president, then extended a warm welcome
to everyone. She announced that the luncheon for April was to be held at the
Sheraton. As the hotel has limited seats available, she advised the members
to book early to avoid being disappointed. In the absence of hospitality
chair Stephanie Moorehouse, co-chair Sam Wilson took the bookings for the
lunch.
The committee members have been busy organising quite a
few social events for the PILC members. A Murder Mystery night is being
organised as a fund raiser for the Mercy Centre on April 21. Tickets will be
available from Kavita Lamba. There are also several upcoming trips, both
within Thailand and overseas, arranged by Nonie Malhotra.
On the Welfare front, a special event coming up is the
charity exhibition of children’s art to be held at the Opium Gallery on
Saturday April 28. Children from five different organizations have
participated in the competition. The exhibition will be opened by Dr. Mechai
Viravaidya. All proceeds from the paintings sold will be given back to the
respective organizations to help them with their many needs. Rosanne urged
the members to visit the exhibition and support a very worthy cause.
Members who have used or unwanted spectacle frames could
now put them in the drop box available at every lunch and coffee morning.
Rosanne reminded the members that all the frames would be put to good use
for the ICU program.
A monster garage sale is to be held on the 2nd of June at
Phu Luang. The money raised will be used to build a new home for the girls.
This would be a wonderful opportunity to spring clean your homes. Ladies who
want to donate things could get in touch with the welfare team or with
Rosanne.
After the formalities were over it was back to chatting
and eating. A special thank you to Stephanie and Sam for organizing yet
another enjoyable morning.
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya donates 50,000 baht to Tourist Relief Fund
Pattaya Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn (left) and Banglamung District Chief Pratheep Jongsuptham (2nd left) accept the donation from Andrew Khoo (2nd right), general manager of Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya and Somsakul Ponlachan (right), Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya’s director of human resources.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
On March 24, general manager Andrew Khoo and other staff
donated 50,000 baht to the Tourist Relief Fund, which assists tourists who are
victims of crimes. The donation was received by Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn
and Banglamung District Chief Pratheep Jongsuptham.
Chonburi Governor Pracha Taerat first had an idea to set up a
fund to assist Thai and foreign victims of crime and asked for help from the
government and private sectors. The project will continue until April 30. The
fund has received more than a million baht in donations.
On March 1, Governor Taerat handed over 100,000 baht each to the families of
two Russian girls who were murdered on Jomtien Beach.
Lots of fun at annual
PILC Family Fun Day
Cindy Logue, special events chairperson and two of her
co-chair ladies, Kavita Lamba and Rachel Hoag welcome PILC members and their
families to the annual PILC Family Fun Day.
Rachel Hoag
PILC Special Events Committee
The Pattaya International Ladies Club held its annual
Family Fun Day on Sunday, March 25th at the Pinnacle Resort and Spa in
Jomtien. It was a relaxing day in the sun for the members of PILC and their
families. We had an even larger turnout than last year with over 70 adults
and 50 children, which is a testament to how steadfast this group event has
become.
Many of our events are attended by only the ladies, and
occasionally an evening affair with our partners as well, but not often do
we get together with the whole family. It was a wonderful opportunity for
the children to play together and for all of us to get to know each other a
little better. It’s always amazing how little ones don’t need to speak the
same language to get along and have fun.
People were swimming, playing mini soccer and volleyball,
building sandcastles, riding a banana boat, and most of all, enjoying each
other’s company. The buffet lunch was delicious and added to the ambiance
with grilled burgers, hot dogs, and shish kebobs.
For the children, the most enjoyed activities were the
mini soccer and the banana boat, while the adults enjoyed playing volleyball
and relaxing in the sun. At the end of a fun-filled day, all the children
enjoyed breaking open a pi๑ata filled with small toys and candy, and
receiving a special surprise to bring home.
The chairperson of special events for PILC is Cindy Logue
and she did an excellent job planning this event and coordinating all the
activities. The new committee members worked well together on this first
effort; quite important as they will be collectively planning the bazaar and
the gala, which are PILC’s most celebrated events.
This committee is quite busy planning these fundraisers,
which help fund our philanthropy for the whole year. Anyone that would like
to assist in planning one of these events should contact Cindy.
This was an extremely successful event. New friends were
made, old friendships were solidified, and of course we are counting down
the days until the next Family Fun Day!
Full house at PCEC meeting
There was a noticeable full house which attended the
Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting on Sunday March 25th at Henry J.
Bean’s, as the series of full weekly programmes continued.
Nuch Phoongwannaluck addresses the PCEC.
The week’s MC, John Lynham, introduced the main speaker
who was Nuch Phoongwannaluck from the Bank of Ayudhya, Currency Exchange
Business Support Division. Nuch provided information as how to open a
non-resident foreign currency deposit account at the Bank of Ayudhya and the
advantages of having one. She also provided information regarding the
official Foreign Currency Exchange Transaction Form (Tor Tor 3) and how to
apply for condominium ownership at the Ministry of Land office.
In response to the requirement that foreigners carry
their passport on their person, PCEC regular Sermsakdi provided the facility
to produce pocket size laminated versions of main passport and visa pages.
Sermsakdi also attended a press briefing for the
telecommunications company, True Corporation. It is possible for a PCEC
delegation to visit the True-UBC studios and transmission facilities in
Bangkok. It is hoped that prior to the visit a representative of True would
visit the Sunday meeting to describe their operation.
A strength of the PCEC is the number of special interest
groups which meet during the week. A new and very worthwhile group was
proposed by Rory Hasemer, that of a group which would receive training in
first aid. Too often when an accident or sudden illness occurs there is
nobody on hand who can provide immediate assistance. Rory reported that the
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya had shown considerable interest in supporting this
new group.
Further announcements included Cliff Hagerman who
provided the reminder that the next club dinner was scheduled for April 7th
at the Montien Hotel when the highly recommended buffet would be available.
Secretary David Meador announced that the competition to
select a new club slogan was also underway and encouraged further suitable
suggestions. David also announced that progress had been made regarding the
proposed visit to the Ford motor vehicle assembly plant and that a firm
announcement would be made shortly.
The regular Open Forum, mediated by Roger Fox, was then
underway and this proved to be the usual lively and entertaining session.
For more information regarding, not only PCEC Sunday meetings but also the
varied mid week activities, please see the Community Happenings section of
Pattaya Mail or, for more details, visit the Club’s website at
pattayacityexpatsclub.com
Internationally renowned Dutch artist exhibits at Ursula’s Antiques
Dutch artist Léa Laarakker Dingjan will exhibit her
paintings on silk at Ursula’s Antiques in Pattaya. The exhibition, titled
“East and West- How Beautiful The Twain Meet” will run until May 6, 2007.
The opening reception will be held on April 7 from 11am until 5pm.
Dutch artist Léa Laarakker Dingjan will be exhibiting her
work at Ursula’s Antiques from April 7 till May 6.
The theme of the exhibition - “East and West- How
Beautiful The Twain Meet” is, of course, a reference to Rudyard Kipling’s
poem, The Ballad of East and West in which Kipling writes “Oh East is East
and West is West and never the twain shall meet”.
Now in Pattaya, East and West meet beautifully as Léa,
with a western background in textiles and design, paints with an eastern
influence on hand woven silk from the Ban Reng Khai foundation.
The paintings, in the form of banners, are complemented
by the backdrop of Ursula’s Antiques, where an Asian-Western atmosphere
prevails.
In addition to Léa’s silk canvases, decorative hand
painted gift and home décor items will be sold at the exhibition.
Léa, portrait
of an artist
As an international artist, renowned for her freehand
designs on silk, Léa has been living in Thailand since 1987.
During her vocational training with lace manufacturers in
the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, she focused on design.
After her arrival in Thailand, Léa began to explore the properties of
plain-woven rough and smooth Thai silk. Applying the “hot-blow” technique,
Léa now paints freehand, that is, without first sketching any pattern.
Léa’s works encompass both abstract and figurative silk
paintings as well as fabric designs used for interior decoration,
furnishings and fashion. Under Lea’s bold and sweeping brush strokes fabrics
suddenly awake to a new life of amazing vividness. Daring colour
combinations, applied in freehand style to form patterns and designs of
great harmony and originality, have won Léa recognition all over the world.
She has received several international awards for her work, including UNESCO
Seals of Excellence for the Rainbow and Diamond Techniques that Léa
developed using solar dyes. She has also appeared on local and international
radio and TV shows.
By exploring ways of combining modern, avant-garde fabric
design on Thai silk, manufactured following century-old local techniques and
tradition, Léa has built an artistic bridge between old and new as well as
East and West.
“East and West- How Beautiful The Twain Meet” opens this Saturday, April
7 from 11am at Ursula’s Antiques Chinese Furniture and Art, 3/140-141 Moo 6
Third Road Pattaya: Tel 038 415 431, 01 833 8224, Fax 038 734 791 or email
[email protected]. The exhibition runs till May 6.
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