PATTAYA, Thailand – It was a very special event at the Wednesday, December 20, meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) when Poppy Quinn brought several of the students from the Father Ray Foundation’s Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind to offer a tribute to Father Ray Brennan, the founder. They performed songs from their musical show “This Is Me, The Children of Father Ray.”
MC Ren Lexander introduced Poppy Quinn, a former school teacher from New York, to begin the program. Poppy’s introduction to the program could easily be a standup comedy routine, as he has several “one liners” that could be called “How tough was the neighborhood I taught in.”
Poppy mentioned that he has been in Thailand a little over a year and during this time became acquainted and involved with the Father Ray Foundation. Because his teaching background also included the creation and direction of high school musicals, the Foundation asked for his help in doing a musical to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Father Ray Brennan’s passing. Father Ray (1932 – 2003) came to Thailand in the 1960’s and after 10 years in the North he came to Pattaya where he became the founder of several programs and schools to help children and the disabled in Pattaya. Visit https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/28618/thai-community-pays-tribute-to-unsung-hero-father-ray-brennan for a brief summary about Father Ray and his devotion and work in Pattaya.
Poppy developed the theme for and directed the musical which was performed by students from The School for the Blind along with The Pattaya Redemptorist Technical College (for the disabled) and the Pattaya Redemptorist School for Children with Special Needs. The musical included a special, loving tribute song to Father Ray composed by the children. Today, Poppy said that this special song would be performed for the PCEC, but would include only students from The School for the Blind. For more information about The School for the Blind, visit https://www.fr-ray.org/pattaya-redemptorist-school-for-the-blind/.
Before asking the blind students to sing, Poppy showed a video from the movie “The Greatest Showman” singing “This is Me.” This was then followed by the students singing their own version of the song with lyrics changed to be a tribute to Father Ray. This was followed with another video depicting the works of Father Ray entitled “Unsung Hero.” These videos can be watched on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjxugyZCfuw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJZVr-fqN8, respectively.
In recognition of the season, the students also followed with three Christmas songs; Angels Singing, Gloria, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. This was followed by Khun Chit, Principal, Redemptorist School for the Blind. Khun Chit noted that the school was created 36 years ago and has students ranging in age from 3 to 20 years old. He said the school’s goal is not only to teach a trade, but also how to have an independent life. The students live at the school and the older children help teach the younger ones. He invited those that might be interested to visit the school and, if they wish, sponsor a lunch.
After the presentation, MC Ren Lexander brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum portion of the meeting where the audience can ask questions or make comments about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at https:/pcec.club.
