Pattaya PILC

A Big Thank You

admin — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:48:24 +0000

I would like to thank all of our members and sponsors for a wonderful event this year at our 20th Anniversary Masquerade Ball. Many people came with their masks on and their beautiful outfits. This year our sponsorships broke our record. Last year we had raised 270,000 baht and this year the amount is over 470,000 before we even started with the auction. This year we have some wonderful auction items. Without the wonderful people that donated these items, we would have not been able to raise the money we have. Our special sponsors were Ursula Antiques, Arlette Cykman, Jean Luc, Gulf Charters, and several others, without whom our auction items were donated.

Our sponsors were Mermaid Maritime, Volclay Siam, Dana Spicer, Captain’s Corner, Emerson Climate Technologies, Emerson Control Technologies, Sheddon Uhde, The Mercy Foundation, Foster Wheeler, Laem Chabang Terminal One, Bechtel International, Laem Chabang International Terminal, and Premier Homes.

This will go down as a wonderful event that everyone who attended will remember. We had a past president Julie Garret come and join us. We also were honored with the presence of Pat Burbridge; she was one of the founders of the PILC 20 years ago. We were honored with Pat opening the Ball. It is great to see how far we have come in 20 years and the people we have helped. Rosanne and our committee did a wonderful job and the wonderful ladies in the show - You were great! Thanks for a good time. And of course, the Royal Cliff Beach Resort who out did their self again. Also, thank you Paul from Pattaya Mail TV for recording our memories.

If you missed this great party event, make sure you sign up next year. It if is anything like this year, it will be an event not to miss. I also need to thank a few PILC ladies for all their help with this event; first of all, Rachel Hoag, Kavita Lamba, Roseanne Diamente, and all the other ladies that had a hand in this process. It has been a great privilege for me to have done all these events this lento de Poker online tambi�n llamado Saco de Arena) es una jugada enga�osa en poker texas holdem que es aproximadamente el opuesto al faroleo - Haciendo apuestas flojas con una mano fuerte en vez de apostar fuerte con una mano floja. year. I hope someone will love to take over next year and enjoy it half as much as I did. Thanks again for allowing me to be your Special Events chair this year.

Cindy Logue

Rayong Bakery Project

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:24:04 +0000

Rayong Bakery Project

Christmas Cakes
(Approx. 850 gms)
Cost: 400 Baht)

To order:

Phone: Lyne- 086-816-5342 or Sohini-085-148-6433
Email: Lowen@netwit.ne.au, sonya1971@rediffmail.com

Cakes can be picked up at the PILC & RLC Xmas luncheons;
The Regent’s school, G.I.S & St Andrews School;
Apt. F2-2, Eastern Star Ban Chang from Friday December 7.

Thank you,
Lyne Lowen & Sohini Goho
School order forms will be collected on Wednesday November 21
Phone / Email orders accepted up till November 30
Cakes can be prepaid or at time of delivery

(The Bakery will be closed over the Xmas period)

Welfare Tour - October 18, 2007

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:22:51 +0000

A group of 26 ladies met up at Foodland to board the 3 vans organised for this welfare tour. We set off for the first visit along Sukhumvit Road and the vans pulled into what I can only describe as a tin shack town built to house hundreds of mainly immigrant, therefore not entitled to government health or education, construction worker families. This is a new project being developed by a British Lady who has lived in Pattaya for 10 years. Her idea is to provide care for the construction workers children (a total of around 60, including 14 babies and a few more due shortly) while their parents are at work on the construction sites. This lady arranges for some of the mothers to work in the care facility, for the 120 baht daily wage they would have earned at the site, and discourage the children from accompanying their parents onto the construction sites or being left unsupervised in ‘tin shack town’. This lady has persuaded the construction company to provide the building for this with facilities including bathrooms, kitchen, nursery, office, clinic room and a large play area which will also be used for teaching purposes. Some equipment for this project has already been donated but many more items such as children’s and baby clothes, nappies, infant formula, books, toys and games (good chance to de-clutter the kids toy boxes before Christmas) and volunteering time to assist this very worthwhile scheme are needed.

The next visit was to the World Vision ‘small house big jungle’ project which was featured in the November issue of the Tropic Topics newsletter. We were entertained by a couple of songs from the band some of the boys have formed, they were very good, although their style of music is definitely aimed at the younger generation! Lynn from Fairtex arrived with a presentation of a punch bag and boxing gloves, one of the suggested items they would like PILC to provide. Other items required are bookshelves, a television and volunteers to assist with English and music lessons.

The final visit of the day was to Ban Jing Jai, which is home to 50 children whose parents are either deceased or unable to care for them, and it was nice to meet a lot of the children as it is the school holidays. Ban Jing Jai consists of two houses, one each for the boys and girls, and a large playground area. The children attend local government schools and are encouraged to further develop and expand their knowledge and abilities through activities such as crafts, music, cooking, household duties and swimming. To generate extra income and pocket money the children make lovely jewellery and candles, and they also collect items for recycling. They also have a very good music group, which has twice won first prize awards in a couple of music competitions, and we can all look forward to them entertaining us with festive music at the Christmas lunch. After refreshments and purchases we set off to leave and were all presented with lovely, traditional Thai flower garlands from the children.

All in all it was a very good tour with plenty of opportunity to donate your time or goods required for any of these, and other welfare projects, just see any of the welfare team for information.

Dot Knowles

BIG Jungle / Small House

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:14:58 +0000

Cecile donated monies collected from Burapha Group coffee and lunch ladies, and this time they have decided to donate towards this project.This project is situated in Soi Sunny Plaza, an area well known for its high concentration of bars, involving younger workers, and has one of the highest levels of prostitution, crime and drugs in the city. Many boys are exploited and under-age boys are especially sought. This center is for the boys and some girls to visit at their own discretion with their friends. Activities are provided, with English, Thai and math being taughtThe most popular activity is music, and the instruments that Pattaya Sports Club recently donated together with PILC are proving very popular!
The Welfare team, on behalf of PILC, would like to thank Cecile and the ladies of Burapha for their generosity and support for the projects we involve ourselves in. A new fridge was purchased with this donation, and a boxing bag and gloves, which I am sure will be utilised well by the lads! Thanks again and we look forward to your continued support.

Ingrid Cunliff

It was a LARGE Day…

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:25:35 +0000

A Newfoundlander would say (as I am a Newfie Girl). It’s a day when you have fun, excitement, new experiences happen, or accomplishments of the day!! Well, that’s what we all felt at the end of a long day out in the Thailand Gulf off of Sattahip, deepsea fishing!!

We filled two buckets with plump good pan size fish! Tasty as could be, straight from the sea!! Fortunately, my husband Richard doesn’t mind cleaning them or cooking them. I just like catching them!! The thrill of a tug on the fishing line, they nibble and pull and sort of tease you, trying to get the bait, testing you, to see if you can catch them. There’s a skill to it but they were plentiful that day as well!!

After the bait was caught, the fisherman we were with, set up mighty poles, and anchored onto the boat firmly attaching at least 5 kilos of weight to the lines with hefty bait attached!! I looked at that and realised only the men were gonna be hauling in anything that is hooked as already it was too heavy for me! (well maybe Roseanne or Cindy can do it).

It was a very refreshing atmosphere; the cool breeze, relaxing, lovely scenery of little islands in the distance, peacefull…. when suddenly we heard one of the fishing rods making a reeling noise and the pole was bending. Mike, Roseanne’s husband grabbed the pole and began struggling with the almighty weight on the end, excitement in the air waiting to see what he was going to pull up!! After some time of it wriggling and flickering about in the water up comes a Baracuda WOW the look on Mike’s face said it - all it doesn’t get much better then this!

Then suddenly, with all the excitement, one of the fisherman was adjusting another rod, and realised there was something grabbing at the bait and in no time up comes a shark about 3 feet long! He was a hard one to kill! These fish were unexpected catches indeed! I got brave and had my picture taken with him (the shark), so did Roseanne and as she held him by the tail he came to life again, he was a powerful one. The fisherman grabbed it and then threw him in the ice chest to keep him nice and fresh for steaks later!

Craig’s turn was next; another rod went reeling and after a big fight with this one out of the depths came a 6-8 kilo grouper fish that shone silvery like Mother of Pearl! A little while later a smaller grouper was caught and the fisherman had it, cleaned and in the pan with his tail still flapping! You can’t get much fresher then that! Delicious!

A good time was had by all! Wonderful company, great experience and as they say in Newfoundland…it was a large day!

Patricia Foulstone

The Rayong Bakery Project goes to The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:48:13 +0000

On Wednesday October 17, the Regent’s Primary school held a special fun day for the children as part of their book week celebrations. Everyone was asked to wear their pyjamas and bring along a favourite soft toy. (It’s not often you get to wear your pj’s to school!). As you can imagine the focus was on books and it was a happy day of reading and being read to. One of the activities was “The Mad Hatters Tea Party”. The Mad Hatter is a character from the well known story “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. A special area near the library was decorated with scenes and characters from the book. The Rayong Bakery Project was asked along to sell cakes, biscuits and lots of other yummy goodies to the children when they came to the library for a storytelling session. The Mad Hatter himself welcomed the children and entertained them with excerpts from the book. Helping us with the bakery was “Alice in Wonderland” (we think she was really one of the teachers!) and Sohini and I wore our rabbits ears. (The rabbit was another character from the story). Over 400 children, teachers and parents visited the Tea Party and it was fun to see so many excited faces. It was a very busy and tiring day but one we were happy to be a part of. The Regent’s school is a great supporter of the Rayong Bakery Project and we thank them for asking us to be a part of their special day.

Jules “Jewels of Thailand”

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:43:41 +0000

The winner of the Chang quilt, “Jewels of Thailand” made by the ‘Quilting Bees’ to raise money for “Our Home”, is Julie Littlejohn from Bangkok. Julie and her husband are often in Pattaya to go sailing at the Royal Varuna Yatchclub. Congratulations Julie! Khun Tiew drew the winning ticket and we immediately phoned Julie to give her the happy news. Julie was surprised and delighted with her prize and keen to take procession of her quilt.

Background to this quilt:-
• This is the first project of the PILC Quilting Bees group. Most of the ladies have never quilted before, so this was a BIG ask. A difficult project for someone with much experience. I ‘fudged the truth’ and reassured them all, “It is all just straight sewing”; this in itself was so. Baby steps will get us there…and it did!!
• “Chang” were chosen as Janis suggested to me “It must be something Thai”. Chang are the dearly loved symbol and jewels of Thailand, so they were an obvious selection.
• “Jewels” is also a reference to the magnificent colours of the gemstones Thailand is famous for. All colours of the rainbow are found in these stones and these vivid colours through the subtle shades of each colour make the Chang charming and lead your eye around the quilt.
• Each block (Chang) consists of 30 pieces; some as small as your little fingernail, and took an average of 1½ hrs to complete.
• 48 Chang blocks were required to make up this quilt; thus it took a minimum of 72 hrs to make these quilt blocks alone.
• 10 hrs were necessary to trim and sew blocks together, to make up the multi-coloured border and sew all the borders together.
• On top of this is the time it took the ladies at “Phuluang” to hand quilt this King Sized Quilt! This required about 1 week full time.
• The sewing up of blocks was done by; Gillian Stewart, Kazuko Hattori, MegWalker, Echiko Tominaga & Faye Vawdrey
• Faye Vawdrey designed and put this quilt top together.

Thanks to your generosity and that of the people who attended our bountiful Bazaar, and the solid work of the Quilting Bees selling tickets, we have been able to present Khun Tiew with a cheque for 28,150Baht. WELL DONE everyone, and many, many sincere thanks to all involved. This money will be put to great use. It will enable the new bedrooms to be built at Phuluang, thus Khun Tiew will be able to help more girls.

Whilst purchasing tickets, many of you mentioned that if you didn’t win (but you were sure you were going to!!) you really wanted this quilt. If this is still the case, Khun Tiew and the girls at “Phuluang” can help you! Just phone Tiew on 081-644-4432 and she can make you an exact replica. Voila, problem solved!

If you would like to learn to quilt or you sew and think you might like to help with our next projects, please come along to the Quilting Bees next get-together at my apartment. We meet the 2nd Wednesday of each month. See Tropics Topics Diary/PILC Special Interest Groups pages for details. We would love to see you! We have all really enjoyed working on this project together and making new friends.

Faye Vawdrey

President’s Letter November

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:02:19 +0000

I cannot believe that I am writing for the December issue already. There have been so many activities, events and charitable work done, that the year has just flown by.

We are now planning for the AGM elections in February, with Nancy Bradburn heading up the Election Committee. With our membership at over 230, I am hoping that many of you will want to take part in the running of this club. I know that you are very talented women and taking a chair position or a co-chair position would help not only the club but is a great way to meet new friends. So don’t feel bashful about stepping forward! There are so many things to do and one of them is bound to suit you so please ask one of the existing committee chairs or Nancy and her team for any information you need.

As you are reading this newsletter, many of you will be reminiscing the great night you had at this years’ 20th Anniversary Masquerade Ball. There will be an article and many pictures of this Charity Event in our February issue. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Cindy Logue and her committee for working many countless hours to make this event possible.

I would also like to thank our generous sponsors for making this year a great success. Without their support we would not be able to accomplish all the charity work we do for the less fortunate in our area. So, thank you to our 50,000 baht sponsors; Volclay Siam, Dana Spicer Rayong, Mermaid Maritime, Captain’s Corner and to our 40,000 baht sponsors Emerson Climate Technologies, Sheddon Uhde and The Mercy Foundation. We would also like to thank the other generous sponsors; LCB Terminal 1, Foster Wheeler, Lam Chabang International Co. Ltd, Bechtel and Premier Homes. All these companies have helped us raise 450,000 baht for the PILC charities next year.

The generosity of our members and companies does not stop there. We had many items donated for this year’s auction that raised even more money at the Gala Ball. A big thank you goes to the following people; Ursula Rothstein, Arlette Cykman, Robert Hagan, Jean Luc Sinquin, Gillian Thom, Ria Hesling, Manhattan Steak House Restaurant, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Thai Décor, Debbie Cavanaugh, Visa (from Pattaya Today) and many more that have given so freely.

At this time of year it is good to reflect on what has been a very busy year for the club and me personally. I have enjoyed being President of the PILC and look forward to working more closely with Welfare projects this coming year. I would like to thank my husband Mike for encouraging me to be the President and for standing by me all the way.

My best wishes for the Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.

Rosanne Diamente

Villa Market

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:53:43 +0000

Pattaya International Ladies Club (PILC) is the proud beneficiary of a generous charitable donation from The Villa Market.

Khun Sudaporn presented the check to members of the PILC Welfare Committee. She explained that Mr Surapong Poosanakhom, Chief Executive Officer and his father Mr Pisit Phusanakhom, The Villa Market developer, are concerned about the welfare of Thai people. They want to support disadvantaged Thai people in the local community. They combined their efforts with donations from several vendors and supporters of Villa Market and were thus able to make a substantial donation to the PILC. Villa Market Pattaya is the 12th store in Thailand with 2000 square meters of floor space. It is a very popular supermarket with the expat foreign community. Therefore, it seemed natural for them to develop a partnership with PILC that can have long-term benefits for both.

Judy Hoppe

Beautiful, Bodacious, Bountiful Bazaar

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:25:32 +0000

The weather was great, the venue grand on Saturday 6th October for the PILC annual Holiday Bazaar. The day started early (7am to 8.30am) at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, and it was abuzz with vendors delivering their wares to display and sell at their stalls. This hive activity was intense, organised chaos, but approaching the magical hour of 10am (when the Bazaar opened officially) calm was restored. Every table stood proud and twinkled and shined just waiting for the people to come and look at what they had to tempt us with. The opening ceremony entailed speeches from the PILC Special Events Chairwoman and Bazaar organiser, Cindy Logue, our intrepid President, Rosanne Diamente, and the guest of honor, the wife of the Governor of Chonburi, Dr Tipawan Taerat. After the ribbon cutting ceremony was so graciously performed by Dr Taerat, the doors to the Siam Ballroom opened with gusto to a festive holiday atmosphere.

The Bazaar set in the fabulous Siam Ballroom was a wonderful sight. The Ballroom was decked out to the nines in Christmas shades of forest green and cherry red. The vista looked and felt luxurious, and had a calming yet festive quality to it all. As usual the agreeable Khun Panga and her staff, notably Khun Pomthip and Khun Joey assisted in numerable ways. A small army of ‘helpers’ were on hand to assist the vendors with all their requirements too. All this was done with precision and a minimum of fuss.

The anticipation was high as this year saw 70 plus vendors from across Thailand graciously taking part in the PILC Bazaar. Needless to say, there was a mammoth selection of goodies to select purchases from: wine, cards, Christmas decorations, hand made paper, home-décor, baked goods, stationary, perfumes, jewellery, fashion accessories, candles, clothing, rugs, crafts, food vendors, gourmet food and beverages, a children’s playroom, superb model planes & boats and beaten stainless steel bowls etc. just to mention a few. In addition, each and every one of the vendors’ bigheartedly donated gifts to the PILC to be used in future raffles to raise additional funds for the PILC Welfare projects.

Parents were able to shop ‘child free’ as the Children’s Room was busy, busy, busy entertaining all the smalls with games and a colouring competition with colouring books sponsored by Nancy Chandler. There were clowns in attendance, provided by the generosity of Capt. and Mrs Steve Ponter of the Jesters. Also a huge thank you is extended to Kim and her fantastic staff from Jameson’s Pub who supplied lunch for the 60 plus Baan Jing Jai Orphanage children and staff. Also many Thanks to Amber with the Party Shop and Mr Tuxedo and his magic show troop, they had the children spell bound, it was fantastic. Thanks also to Marg and the ISE children who came and did beautiful face painting.

This was a seriously good opportunity to purchase high quality Christmas gifts, or just gifts in general. I know I got a bit of Christmas shopping done! How exciting!! It’s only October and I have started to conquer the Yuletide shopping. Many a power shopper was spotted in the early hours, snapping up lots of bits and pieces with fans of shopping bags in tow in both hands. I know I thoroughly enjoyed my shopping experience; nice to know I was able to purchase some unique and special pieces, but also that in the process our numerous PILC charities will benefit. The more we spend, the more we make. Now who could (surely not even our husbands!) complain about that?

Thank you, thank you to the generous souls that donated such wonderful and so many prizes to our enormous Raffle: there were in excess of 50 prizes on offer. Amazing; these included a luxury holiday, dinner for two at several well loved restaurants, escapes to charming destinations, jewellery etc. Your kind gifts are the backbone to our fundraising event and we humbly salute you all. Merci beaucoup. Khorp khun mak kha. Dank schon. Grazie mille. Efharisto poli. Tackar sa mycket. Our deepest and sincere thanks.

The raffle prize winners are as follows:

All prizes must be claimed by Tuesday, November 6, 2007, or they will be used by PILC at a future date to raise more money for their charities. To claim your prize, contact Cindy Logue 086-039-7811, or Rachel Hoag 081-782-6118.

Our immense gratitude and appreciation is also extended to our most magnanimous sponsors: Transpo International Ltd., Foster Wheeler & Volclay Siam. Their continued support of PILC is much appreciated and most welcome. Your generosity is astonishing. Thank you all.

The 2007 PILC Bazaar raised in excess of 400,000 Baht. Well done everyone. …In total, 580 people passed through our doors to enjoy the shopping, eating, browsing and colourful displays. Finally, our especial thanks and appreciation are extended to Cindy Logue who worked tirelessly planning and executing this (her inaugural) Bazaar and to her dedicated committee members: Judy Clausen, Rachel Hoag, Janet Seale, Alvi Sinthuvanik, Ingrid Cunliffe, Rosanne Diamente, Elaine Poole, Kathleen Petras, Kavita Lamba, and a host of other PILC members. Cindy, it was great and an immense amount of work. And you did all this whilst still remaining sane; a grand effort and wonderful success!! Bravo ladies!