Gong Hei Fat Choy!!  Chinese New Year came a bit early this year on January 22.  Bonsor Seniors Badminton group was delighted to have a celebration without any Covid restriction.  To celebrate the year of rabbit, we held a banquet dinner at Grand Crystal Seafood Restaurant in Crystal Mall.  130 people signed up for the event.  With the concerns of Covid still lingering, the attendance was slightly down this year.

This year, Mary Horton, our 55+ Society liaison, and the badminton group were delighted to have Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley as our special guest of honour.  It was Mike’s first time to join our event.  He went around each table, handed out red envelopes and took pictures with everyone.  I have never seen so many cell phones up taking pictures!  Later, some of the pictures were uploaded onto Mike’s Instagram and Twitter account.

We had 2 musical performances by our members: an Er-hu and a guitar performance.  After the guitar performance, Mike offered to sing a song with the borrowed guitar.  What a pleasant surprise and what a great impromptu performance!!!  The whole room just burst into cheers with everyone shouting “Encore” afterwards.

The food was absolutely delicious.  Mike enjoyed the food so much he stayed for the whole dinner.  And he really loved the desserts, baked tapioca pudding.

In all, everyone enjoyed the dinner and had a wonderful time.

Submitted by Caroline Young

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