Wallah!!!!! Look, all the boys of Std 5.
Sorry about the quality of the photo
Teachers: Lim Thean Poh Theo Kok Hin
(Double click on the photo to enlarge it)
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9 years ago
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Iimages of St Pat's
A/ The view of the top floor from the back of the school (from the badminton court- if I am not mistaken)
B/ The front of the school from the road
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Kulim Nostalgia
William,
Finally found the time to scan the old photos of Kulim and St Patrick's and e-mail them to you. They are all on JPG format and were taken on two occasions, 1983 (when I was visiting Kulim alone) and 1989 (with Stewart). The sleepy hollow of Kulim in the 50s and 60s that we know had not changed by the 1980s and the photos taken then would still reflect those eras. Change to Kulim's landscape started to creep in from the 1990s because of economic development. Some of the changes were reflected in demolishing old houses in the town to erect new buildings, turning many roads into one-way streets, etc. Today Kulim of course looks very much different, to the extent that former residents like us do feel like strangers!I have also enclosed 2 old b & w photos of my childhood days in Kulim. The first is a Class photo (Std V) in 1956 with Lim Thean Poh and our form teacher Teoh Kok Hin.You can see a young James (3rd from left back row) and myself (seated extreme right front row). The second photo was one of the altar boys taken with Father Seliar in 1959 in front of the church. I am 2nd from left back row and you can see James and Francis.The photos of Kulim in a website you referred to (where Stewart came across your e-mail) were actually taken in the 1990s and later, and show the great changes that Kulim had undergone. I find them very interesting, particularly the photos on the old chettiar shop houses in Jalan Raya which had been part of the environment which Stewart and I had grown up.Feel free to put the photos in your blog or peruse them in whatever way you think fruitful.I no longer work full time for any newspaper though I used to be with the Singapore Straits Times for over 10 years. Now I am on my own as a freelancer where I not only string for foreign and local newspapers, but do political risk reports for banks, investments companies, etc. Freelancing is really tough and stressful work, but the tradeoff is that you are your own boss and do what you feel you should be doing and not what the boss tells you what to do (which can sometimes be wrong as most of us have discovered). You get your work published in newspapers by liaising with the editor of the respective paper who pays you a fee usually based on number of words per article. Some papers, the more reputable ones, pay more, others less.I am also working on a PhD thesis from the information I have gathered over the years on Malaysian politics as a journalist, both in Straits Times and as a freelancer. This is part of my eventual retirement plans.You mentioned in your blog that you were born in Singapore. What about your siblings from Gilbert downwards? How did all of you end up in Kulim from 40s up to 60s?
Best wishes and take care,
David
Comment
I remember you from the picture of the alter boys.
Glad you have made it. Congratulations.
William
Finally found the time to scan the old photos of Kulim and St Patrick's and e-mail them to you. They are all on JPG format and were taken on two occasions, 1983 (when I was visiting Kulim alone) and 1989 (with Stewart). The sleepy hollow of Kulim in the 50s and 60s that we know had not changed by the 1980s and the photos taken then would still reflect those eras. Change to Kulim's landscape started to creep in from the 1990s because of economic development. Some of the changes were reflected in demolishing old houses in the town to erect new buildings, turning many roads into one-way streets, etc. Today Kulim of course looks very much different, to the extent that former residents like us do feel like strangers!I have also enclosed 2 old b & w photos of my childhood days in Kulim. The first is a Class photo (Std V) in 1956 with Lim Thean Poh and our form teacher Teoh Kok Hin.You can see a young James (3rd from left back row) and myself (seated extreme right front row). The second photo was one of the altar boys taken with Father Seliar in 1959 in front of the church. I am 2nd from left back row and you can see James and Francis.The photos of Kulim in a website you referred to (where Stewart came across your e-mail) were actually taken in the 1990s and later, and show the great changes that Kulim had undergone. I find them very interesting, particularly the photos on the old chettiar shop houses in Jalan Raya which had been part of the environment which Stewart and I had grown up.Feel free to put the photos in your blog or peruse them in whatever way you think fruitful.I no longer work full time for any newspaper though I used to be with the Singapore Straits Times for over 10 years. Now I am on my own as a freelancer where I not only string for foreign and local newspapers, but do political risk reports for banks, investments companies, etc. Freelancing is really tough and stressful work, but the tradeoff is that you are your own boss and do what you feel you should be doing and not what the boss tells you what to do (which can sometimes be wrong as most of us have discovered). You get your work published in newspapers by liaising with the editor of the respective paper who pays you a fee usually based on number of words per article. Some papers, the more reputable ones, pay more, others less.I am also working on a PhD thesis from the information I have gathered over the years on Malaysian politics as a journalist, both in Straits Times and as a freelancer. This is part of my eventual retirement plans.You mentioned in your blog that you were born in Singapore. What about your siblings from Gilbert downwards? How did all of you end up in Kulim from 40s up to 60s?
Best wishes and take care,
David
Comment
I remember you from the picture of the alter boys.
Glad you have made it. Congratulations.
William
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
St Pat's Reunion
William,
Through my emails with Stewart Chew and Ron Heng we sort of decided to organize a St Pat Class57 reunion some time in August next year.
As proposed by me that we have a 2 nights and 3 days affair in Penang. It will not be exclusively class57 , (those around that time are also welcome) but the main focus will be those of class57.
It will be quite an exciting event as some of the convent girls of that time may even join us. We wonder how these girls will look when the turn up ?
Wonder if the hearts will still throb or drop? It will be fun. We are going to have two nights of feasting, the first night dinner will be in a seafood restaurant . It will be informal so
that we could chat. Then there will also be a hospitality suite where those interested could go for drinks and chat.
Second morning, a get together for a morning walk or swim or round of golf for those interested and then a breakfast corner reserved for the class57 participants. The second night
dinner will be in the hotel, a sit down Chinese dinner with entertainment. We will organize a presentation 'Then & Now', with a funny script provided of each.
We will also have items to take home ie T-shirt with a logo St. Pat. CLASS57. But before we start the presentation and dinner we will have a short pause in memory of those are no longer in with us. We know a few that are no longer around .
I have suggested next year because it will take a while to inform the people and put the program in place. Firstly the list of fellows and their whereabouts . I can only come up with 15 names out of a class of about 40. Eow Meng could only come up with 5.
This event is keeping my mind ticking with excitement. 50 years is a long time. It should be great fun .
What do you think of the idea, especially meeting of the old girls and the whole event?
Teddy
Response,
The time may be inconvenient for us. The idea is excellent.
Keep working at it. Hopefully this blog will help with the numbers if it is spread around. Try not to limit to one year group.
Good Luck
Wm
Through my emails with Stewart Chew and Ron Heng we sort of decided to organize a St Pat Class57 reunion some time in August next year.
As proposed by me that we have a 2 nights and 3 days affair in Penang. It will not be exclusively class57 , (those around that time are also welcome) but the main focus will be those of class57.
It will be quite an exciting event as some of the convent girls of that time may even join us. We wonder how these girls will look when the turn up ?
Wonder if the hearts will still throb or drop? It will be fun. We are going to have two nights of feasting, the first night dinner will be in a seafood restaurant . It will be informal so
that we could chat. Then there will also be a hospitality suite where those interested could go for drinks and chat.
Second morning, a get together for a morning walk or swim or round of golf for those interested and then a breakfast corner reserved for the class57 participants. The second night
dinner will be in the hotel, a sit down Chinese dinner with entertainment. We will organize a presentation 'Then & Now', with a funny script provided of each.
We will also have items to take home ie T-shirt with a logo St. Pat. CLASS57. But before we start the presentation and dinner we will have a short pause in memory of those are no longer in with us. We know a few that are no longer around .
I have suggested next year because it will take a while to inform the people and put the program in place. Firstly the list of fellows and their whereabouts . I can only come up with 15 names out of a class of about 40. Eow Meng could only come up with 5.
This event is keeping my mind ticking with excitement. 50 years is a long time. It should be great fun .
What do you think of the idea, especially meeting of the old girls and the whole event?
Teddy
Response,
The time may be inconvenient for us. The idea is excellent.
Keep working at it. Hopefully this blog will help with the numbers if it is spread around. Try not to limit to one year group.
Good Luck
Wm
Dear Bill,
I remembered this picture in the blog of my visit to St. Patricks with my brother David at least 10 years ago. We shared this experience of tremendous pride for our small but historic school. We mutually recollected the joys of our student days, our classmates and our teachers. I remembered clearly that we gratefully stood in front of our school as if to pay our humble respects before we departed. Can you remember its unique facade with sloping sides which one could accidentally trip when running around the school?
We revisited St.Patricks again about 3 years ago. Sadly, the spirit that we had from our previous visit very quickly dissipated when we were greeted by a strangely unfriendly school, talked (in broken Malay) to the teachers and looked into the classrooms. Despite moving away from the classrooms to the adjoining basketball courts, this feeling of sadness did not quickly leave us. As David and I head for the aging gates, we took one more look at our old school and told ourselves that it will be a long time before we make another visit - if ever !!
(Keep up with the good work on St Pat's blog).
Comment
It is unfortunate that, on my several visits to Kulim, I failed to take a second glance at the school that laid my scholastic foundation. Only now I realise what a mistake that had been. I can believe the drop in standard since we all left. I have emailed the school for the history of the institution but have yet to receive a reply. I will try again.
Wm
I remembered this picture in the blog of my visit to St. Patricks with my brother David at least 10 years ago. We shared this experience of tremendous pride for our small but historic school. We mutually recollected the joys of our student days, our classmates and our teachers. I remembered clearly that we gratefully stood in front of our school as if to pay our humble respects before we departed. Can you remember its unique facade with sloping sides which one could accidentally trip when running around the school?
We revisited St.Patricks again about 3 years ago. Sadly, the spirit that we had from our previous visit very quickly dissipated when we were greeted by a strangely unfriendly school, talked (in broken Malay) to the teachers and looked into the classrooms. Despite moving away from the classrooms to the adjoining basketball courts, this feeling of sadness did not quickly leave us. As David and I head for the aging gates, we took one more look at our old school and told ourselves that it will be a long time before we make another visit - if ever !!
(Keep up with the good work on St Pat's blog).
Comment
It is unfortunate that, on my several visits to Kulim, I failed to take a second glance at the school that laid my scholastic foundation. Only now I realise what a mistake that had been. I can believe the drop in standard since we all left. I have emailed the school for the history of the institution but have yet to receive a reply. I will try again.
Wm
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