February 2025, PSHF held a 3 day conference in Richard's house in Miag-ao, Iloilo. First to arrive were Analyn, Mary Blanche and Phady; they had come overnight on the ship from Cebu. A few hours later Sherry arrived from Bacolod on Negros island; she had taken the Ocean Jet fast craft.

 

The opening day of the conference began with a memorable dawn break walk to the University of the Philippines (UP), Iloilo Campus. It is a huge campus surrounded by nature. We had light discussions on our first day, from computer desktop tutorials to discussing the 2024 project charts and reviewing the performances of our five regional offices. We closed the day with a "kanpai" at aperitif time. Richard then served a wonderful dinner with his signature vegetable stew!

Rhiza, one of our two non-executive trustees arrived on the second day of the conference. The focus of the second day was on the respective office budgets for 2025 as well as our plans for our Lighthouse Learning Center. In the evening, Richard introduced us to “Fawlty Towers” - classic British comedy which we all enjoyed; this was followed by a few YouTube music videos of the Seekers, one of Richard’s favourite groups of the 60s. Mary Blanche was familiar with ‘The Carnival is Over’ as she remembers her mother Betty singing it when she was a child.

 

The last day of the conference also started with a morning walk around the UP campus; by then Ana had joined us from Dumaguete. Richard went on ahead on his 35 year-old Bianchi mountain bike and rejoined us as we climbed the hill to the viewing point of the sea.

 

It was both a fruitful and enjoyable conference for all of us.