today marks the 23rd anniversary of the angelus choir. founded in 1982 by the late fr fortier, the choir comprised cousins, two sisters and friends, if memory serves me right. william joined in '86, and myself in '87, the same year as tony and aaron. the same people who practically dragged me to joined the choir and so i did at the age of 18. the choir was like 30 strong singing our lungs out at the old church at sembawang. the half-pass-six choir we were called and practises were very much the same as now. we started at 4pm, had mass at 6.30pm (hence the name, the ½ pass six choir) n continued prac till as late as 10pm. we had no mics and of course, there wasn't aircon at all. we had a small choir loft on the second floor of the church but for a very short time, the rest of time of my years there, we were upfront facing the altar. we had to battle mosquitoes and all kind of insects who intruded our practises. getting mosquitoes bites everytime was the norm, until we decided to close all the windows and leave the side door open only. christmas was like the thing we look forward every year. there was one year that i bet all of us will remember for a very long time, it was after mass and everybody was like hugging each other at the church porch. then the girls were happily hugging everybody until they released that they were also hugging some foreign workers who decided to get into action, it was so funny. the girls freaked out and hit behind some of the choir guys. there was this other time when i wasnt in the choir yet but my sis was. i saw william outside my door step with a baseball bat with my sis. apparently someone was following my sis, and she called william who came down with a baseball bat and william called gerard who also came down with a baseball bat. at that time, i didnt really knew the both yet, but looking back now, its a good laugh.
the choir shifted to yishun in '92, reduced to ten to fifteen people and though the years the numbers declined slowly. mass was at six-ten pm, hence we were without a proper name for a year or so. at one point we had only five to seven people. we actually did a wedding mass accapella once with the help of fr j.j. he was a brother back then. without having a name, we had no identity so maria and cynthia approached fr. fortier and hence, the angelus was born. the choir was back in full swing again when hatsuee, anne marie, sarah n joanne joined us in 95, mel, mark, jeremy and others joined soon after. and the rest like the say is history. i've been in the choir now for 18 years and its been a hell of a ride. i have learnt a lot of things, gained loads of friends and at the same time, this is where i learnt to be a soundman, thanks to david who showed me the ropes and got me interested. who in turn i taught melvin and mark. mel helps out whenever and mark have left the choir and current he is a soundman for some joint now. so all the best to him. i have a young padawan now n she is catching up fast; and she is none other than david niece's pat! kinda cool isn't it, how things come around.
well, the choir has lots of history behind it, we have a priest, a nun, a ceo and lots more. all of them at one point were like teenagers in this choir. my eldest sis, the nun, is in london. leon came back to singapore recently to celebrate his first mass as a priest but i am not sure where he is now. and the ceo is none other than the guy with the baseball bat, william. hahahaha...funny how things come around yeah! to everyone from the angelus past and present, love you guys lots.
happy 23rd anniversary angelus
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