40th Reunion Video Presentation

Compiled and edited by Patrick Leong

Memories '68 Slide Show

Recreated from the continous slide show running during the 40th Reunion at Tanglin Club, for your continuing nostalgia.

Created by Patrick Leong.

Thank you notes

Posted from an email from Ho Kum Koon:

To the organizers of this gathering: A big THANK YOU.
Seeing shahid dancing was something that was beyond my imagination. For 40 years many of us have gone out to look for that pot of gold and found it. I am not so sure if that is what life is all about. I am told that some of our cohorts were reluctant to come because they felt that they have yet to find theirs. This is terrible, to think that we would be wasting our time gathering to compare numbers!

In the final analysis of the book Forty Years On, Erny has given us some good advice on life. In my own words I think it has to do with 2 words- success vs significance. Success is to add value to yourself while significance is to add value to others through serving others. In the next 20-30 years I hope we will be significant and not be measured by the so called success in $$$.

We may not be around for the 50th anniversary but as Lee Hah Ing puts it , in the meanwhile count your blessings. Time is ticking away towards that appointment everyone must keep. The greatest blessing that one can have and which I believe Hah Ing very much desires for us is to know our Maker before we meet Him face to face.

To God be the glory.

Kum Koon

Sent 8/10/08 10:41 PM PDT = 8/11/08 7:41 AM SGT

Maggie Mason

As you know, Maggie left ACS in mid 1968 during PU-II prior to the HSC exams to study in Canada at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1973, after graduating from the University of Singapore Faculty of Engineering, I had the good fortune to obtain a Ford Foundation fellowship to study Industrial Engineering in Stanford University, California, and found myself there with another Singaporean on the same program - a person who has since returned to Singapore, and being in the public eye, is probably known by name to all of you. In June 1974, both of us went to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, and after the summer semester, took the road trip back to Stanford. West Lafayette, as you know is east of Stanford, so we started the return trip back heading East and North - which certainly makes a lot of sense ;-) came through Madison, Wisconsin, and met Juzar there at the time. As part of the trip, we went to Montreal, where we visited and stayed with a former lecturer from the Engineering Faculty, who had moved to one the Universities there. (As an aside, he had a young son whom he kept calling Goondoo as a term of endearment, and I am sure some one had given him a bad translation of what it meant.)

On a lark, I found a phone directory of Montreal, and on looking up the M's, came across some Masons, and a couple of Mason M s and don't recall if there were any Maggies among them. So, armed with the phone book and a rotary phone (touch-tone phones were a thing of the future at the time), and several cups of coffee, I started down the list, and hit pay dirt right away. I was pleasantly surprised when she answered. We went for dinner with my colleague, and had a very pleasant visit with her after that.

Around Christmas I sent her a "Snoopy" Christmas card from Palo Alto - at least I thought I did. A few days later I received the envelope I had sent addressed to me, so I thought I must have addressed the envelope to myself rather than to her and put her address as the return address. However, the envelope did not seem quite the same. On closer examination, I noticed that the handwriting was different. It turns out that the envelope was similar to the one I sent, but not the same, and that the card was from her. Our cards had crossed in the mail, and we had both sent each other the same card at the same time!

That is not the end of the story - there was one more chapter. In November 1975, I was bicycling home in the middle of the night from school when an immovable log/beam on the ground had an argument with the front wheel of my irresistable bicycle :-). For those who have been taught that in physics (remember F = Ma) that when an immovable object meets an irresistable force the result is indeterminiate, I found a definitive answer that night. The immovable object won! The bicycle stopped cold. However, Newton's First Law of Inertia (anyone still remember what that is?) did me in. I kept going, my fingers were caught between the brake control and the handlebar. After groping for and finding my glasses which had obeyed Newton's First Law with me and also fallen off, I got up, and dusted myself off. The world looked a little blurry, and I thought I had damaged my head, but it was actually a lens of my spectacles that had popped off, so that was a relief. However, the blurry looking ring and little fingers on my right hand looked strange and had no sensation, and the front wheel of the bicycle did not look straight. With some help I got to the student health center, and next morning was told by the doctor that I needed surgery, and admitted to Stanford Hospital.

After the surgery, I stayed in the hospital one night, too groggy to care, and next day told I would have to stay one more night. Well, that second night, after the effects of the anaesthesia had worn off, I found that the traffic in the hospital room with the nurses going in and out annoying the other patients was so distressing that I could not get any sleep. When the following morning when the doctor came in and wanted me to stay one more night, I objected and wanted to get out of there. While checking out and leaving the hospital, I heard my voice, turned around, and thought I was hallucinating, because, right there ... in the flesh was.... Maggie Mason!!.

Turns out she was checking out the Microbiology program because her boyfriend was thinking of attending Stanford, and she wanted to see what was available, and ran into me most unexpectedly. Subsequently, that afternoon, I had a long conversation with her, but I never got a correct phone number from her, and I did not have my own listed phone, and did not see or hear from her again.

Gentle reader, if you have any later news of Maggie, please post it in the comment section. If there are enough comments, I might be persuaded to look and post that very well composed picture of her taken under the portrait of the Mona Lisa lookalike in that Montreal restaurant by my cohort in crime in 1974......

Maggie, if you are reading this, please make contact with your classmates of 40 years ago.....

Suppiah and Ernie

Reminds me of another famous Suppiah's sayings......." I say why for you are wasting my time time, your time and the the time of the others. Simply you get out now, I say, get out now and stand outside under the tree there and waste time."

A great one was when Suppiah had an argument with Ernie outside our classroom as follows:

I say Ernest, what is this you are making me feel like a damn fool waiting outside while you keep on speaking inside.

Ernie's reply, "I annot help it if you want to feel like a fool" Both parted ways and Suppiah continued to rant and rage in the classroom with all his fury.

Guess Who II?

Guess Who? HINT: At least one of them is a cohort

Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire, Radio City Music Hall, 1935 ?
Cleopatra & Caesar, River Nile, Egypt, 46 bc ?
Juliet & Romeo, Italy, 1763 ?
Beauty & The Beast, Disneyland, 1940 ?
None of the above ?
---------------------
Select one or Add your own guess by clicking on comments link below
Correct answer and full video to be revealed during the Reunion on August 9, 2008
Great non-prizes to be won!!

Ms Clare Loh saves Tight Pants 50's Life

Tight Pants 50, who has not chosen to relate his real name, credits Geography teacher Ms Clare Loh with saving his life, limb and sanity.

In school TP50 learnt about contour lines from Ms Loh, the most important thing being that when contour lines are close together of a map, it represents steep, and when far apart, they represent gradual slopes.

Fast forward some years to somewhere near Yosemite National Park in California USA.
TP50 was in a group of hikers somewhere in the high country around Toulome Meadows who wanted to get from one point to another. The distances looked close on the map, and TP50 noticed the large number of tightly packed contour lines between the two points. There was an alternate route that looked like it was 10 times the distance.
The long ago and faraway words of Ms Loh rang in his ears - and he dug in his heels and declared that no way he was going to take the short path, and would prefer to take the long path. The group broke into 2 parties, one party taking the straight line direct path, and the other the long path. Majority of the group joined the first party and took the short part - it was not clear how many members of the group joined the second party, but it appears that there must have been at least one member in that party.

So TP50 arrived tired at the destination several hours later and saw no sign of the other party. This could mean only one of 2 events had transpired. The other party (a) had finished their trip, got tired of waiting and left, or (b) were still on the way. His faith in the words of Ms Loh gave him hope that the (b) was probably the right answer.

A few hours later, the other group finally showed up, totally scratched up and exhausted after having climbed down the steep slope on one side an up the steep slope on the other side. After going down the steep slope, fighting gravity to make sure they did not arrive too early, the legs of the members of the first group had turned to jelly, and then they found themselves having to climb up the steep hillside.

Wherever you are Ms Loh, TP50 thanks you and remembers your words to this day... and still feels for the members of the other group who had not had the benefit of your words.....

-------------------------------------
This story was written after hearing the story from TP50 himself, with a few additional spicy details (some made up) and posted here by the ghostwriter.

Welcome to visitors from around the world!

Wow, it is impressive to note through clustrmaps and FEEDJIT we can see where people come from. Florida, Bellevue,Washington Cleveland,Ohio Bristol,Bristol Manchester,Manchester Houston,Texas San Jose,California.

Yet to see some visitors from Singapore......

In Days of Yore

I heard our school Anthem had the same tune as the Canadian National Anthem but never checked it out until now to see if this was true. A google search found that the word phrasing appears similar, but the melody itself sounds different from a song called "The Maple Leaf Forever"

Anyone with additional insight into this matter would do us all a favor by sharing such knowledge.

April Fool's Day

The First Day of the month was when the school fees were collected and sent to the office.
One year, an announcement came in mid morning saying that no more coins would be accepted for school fees. It sounded pretty ugly. As a side note, the principal or vice-principal added "Poor Mr Anai has been counting 1c coins all morning".......

Why is this amusing? It is because this prank seems to appear not every year but through every generation of students. I only heard this once...... but the link to the ACS Class of 1979 website describes the same thing happening in 1977, and it sounds like they think the School Admin was surprised -- I doubt very much this was new to the teachers and principal/ vice-principal but it appears they good naturedly played along with this prank.........

check out this link to "Tall Stories" of Class of 1979

Forty Years On - from Wikipedia as of date of posting

Forty Years On (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Forty Years On is a song written by Edward Ernest Bowen and John Farmer in 1872.
Forty Years On is a song about life at school and is meant to give pupils now an idea of what it will be like in forty years when they return to their old school, and to remind old boys about school life. It is the main school song of Harrow School, and is sung there at the end of any songs (this is an occasion when old boys of the school return to hear the schools songs being sung by current pupils, or an occasion within houses for singing the same songs at the end of each term), followed by Auld Lang Syne and the British National Anthem (God Save The Queen). Traditionally, verse three is sung by Old Harrovians in attendance at School Songs. The Churchill verse is only sung once a year at a special Churchill Songs. The penultimate Follow Up! in each chorus is sung unaccompanied by the School XII, which is made up of the best singers in the top year.
Contents[hide]
1 The Words:
2 The Starehe Boys' Centre and School Rendition
3 Parody
3.1 Other uses
//

[edit] The Words:
Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along,
Follow up! Follow up! Follow up
Follow up! Follow up
Till the field ring again and again,
With the tramp of the twenty-two men.
Follow up! Follow up!
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won,
Strife without anger and art without malice, –
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
Then, you will say, not a feverish minute
Strained the weak heart and the wavering knee,
Never the battle raged hottest, but in it.
Neither the last nor the faintest, were we!
Follow up! etc.
Oh the great days. in the distance enchanted,
Days of fresh air, in the rain and the sun,
How we rejoiced as we struggled and panted –
Hardly believable, forty years on!
How we discoursed of them, one with another,
Auguring triumph, or balancing fate,
Loved the ally with the heart of a brother,
Hated the foe with a playing at hate!
Follow up etc.
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!
Follow up etc.
Churchill Verse:
Blazoned in honour! For each generation
You kindled courage to stand and to stay;
You led our fathers to fight for the nation,
Called "Follow up" and yourself showed the way.
We who were born in the calm after thunder
Cherish our freedom to think and to do;
If in our turn we forgetfully wonder,
Yet we'll remember we owe it to you.
Follow up! etc.
The original Churchill verse, sung to him on 12th November 1954, was as follows:
Sixty years on--though in time growing older,
Younger at heart you return to the Hill:
You, who in days of defeat ever bolder,
Led us to Victory, serve Britain still.
Still there are bases to guard or beleaguer,
Still must the battle for Freedom be won:
Long may you fight, Sir, who fearless and eager
Look back to-day more than sixty years on

[edit] The Starehe Boys' Centre and School Rendition
FORTY YEARS ON (adapted from the famous song of Harrow School, written in 1872)
Forty years on, when afar and asunder,
Parted are those who are singing today,
When we look back and forgetfully wonder
What we were like in out work and our play:
Brotherhood strong and teachers devoted,
Assembly, Chapel, the House where we grew,
Posho, Githeri, the Founders' Day dinner,
Talks in Baraza, the friendship we knew.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
Give honour again and again,
To Starehe where we became men,
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
O the great days in the distance enchanted,
Hours in the classroom and hours in the field,
In games and athletics we struggled and panted,
Learning to strive hard and never to yield,
Scouting, exploring, those long expeditions,
Fighting of fires, swimming and First Aid,
Playing of music, debating and drama,
Voluntary service – our first steps we made.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Etc.
Forty years on growing older and older,
Shorter in wind as in memory long,
Feeble of foot and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help us that once we were strong?
God gives us duty for us to discharge it,
Problems to face, struggle with and overcome,
Service to render and glory to covet,
Twenty and thirty and forty years on!
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!

[edit] Parody
Forty years on, when in a bar down-under
Farting are those who are drinking today,
When you look fat, and regretfully wonder
What you were like when you weren’t overweight,
Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,
Glimpses of notes like the ning nang song,
Visions of hunger shall waft then before you,
Echoes of Burger King shall bear them along,
Follow up! Follow up! Follow up
Follow up! Follow up
Till the fields ring again and again,
With the flatulence of the thirty true men
Follow up! Follow up!
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Longer in wind, as in memory short,
Feeble of foot, flattened by a boulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us goal lines to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, with swords or a gun;
Fights for the dickheads, and trees for the beavers,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!

[edit] Other uses
Forty Years On is the school song of the prestigious Napier Boys' High School in Napier, New Zealand. The "tramp of the twenty-two men" line is altered and instead is "the tramp of the thirty true men" - in reference to Rugby Union which is the national sport. The same is also true for Wellington College in Wellington, the capital of NZ. Hamilton Boys' High School in NZ has also used it with the "thirty true men" since the 1950's. Nelson College, in Nelson, New Zealand, sings the first verse (and chorus - with the reference to the "thirty true men") at Senior Prizegiving
As well as this it is also sung at Melbourne High School's Speech Night (Graduation Night). Only the first and last verses (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) are sung. Rather than the "tramp of the twenty-two men", Melbourne High School replaces the line with the "tramp of the thirty-six men" in reference to Australian rules football being the dominant football code in Victoria.
In the United Kingdom: the school song of Netherthorpe School Colyton Grammar School, Woodford County High School in Essex, Beverley Grammar School in East Yorkshire, Bolton School, Manchester Grammar School, High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield, the now defunct Salford Grammar School and Harrow School's affiliated school, The John Lyon School.
In the United States: sung at the Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) at the commencement ceremony.
In Kenya it is sung on Founders' Day at Starehe Boys' Centre and School
In South Africa: at Pretoria Boys High School, Pretoria sung at all School Valedictions and assemblies at which Old Boys are present, with certain minor adaptions. 22 good men is substituted by 30 good men. It is sung in Forty Years On, a play by Alan Bennett. It also sung at Westville Boys High School, Durban, when the matrics have their last assembly and ring the bell before departing the school.
In Thailand: at Vajiravudh College which is a boarding school built by King Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) in 1911, the "tramp of twenty two men" became "The Might of Thirty Best Men" in refernece to the school's supremacy in Rugby. There is also lyric in Thai which is sung each year before the King of Thailand at the Graduation Ceremony.
In Hong Kong, the melody is used by Queen's College as its school song, with its lyrics written by Headmaster Mr. William Kay (1920). The school song of Heep Yunn School is also adapted from this song. But its lyrics is in Chinese, rather than English which Queen's College uses.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Years_On_%28song%29"
Categories: 1872 songs British songs

--------------------------------------------------------------

This page was last modified on 19 July 2008, at 06:33.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers

Red Socks

"Dear Teech, The best thing I like about you is your red socks...."

Question: Who was Teech?

Mr Suppiah Sayings

• Affirmation: "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better"
• Advice: "Don't be a fool, man!"
• Bad Breath: "Amasol" to keep it away

Churi Ayam...

• Remember when Boy Scouts were associated with "Churi Ayam"?
• Sad to say, in all the years I was a scout, the opportunity to "Churi" any "Ayam"s never came up
• The score stands as follows: Ayam - 1 ; Scouts - 0

Physics ..

• collecting and chasing mercury droplets in the hand before knowing that it was toxic
• focusing sunlight onto various body parts to test power of magnifying glass
• growing sugar, potash alum, and copper sulphate crystals

Green Bus ...

• hanging on to the handle at the door of the overcrowded Green Bus when trying to get to and from school
• arguing with conductor who sometimes insisted that minimum fare got us one bus stop short of school
• cursing at the bus driver who refused to stop because the bus was full
• overshooting the right bus stop on the first day of school in Sec I, showing up late, and ending up in Sec IB when most classmates from ACS Coleman St ended in Sec IA

...............................shahid

About this Blog

The dates and times are in Singapore Time, and may appear strange if in some other country. The reason is unproven unverified hypothesis that the center of mass of cohorts is in Singapore.

It was pointed out that it was not clear who started this blog, and which year it is for. acsian-blogger is pen name of Shahid who originated this blog together with the related website, and some postings are done using that name, especially if they were posted on behalf of someone else.

This site is dedicated to the 1966 Sec 4 cohort and the 1968 PUII cohort of ACS Barker Road. At the time we were there, there was only the Coleman St school and the Barker Road school; Independent School and ACJC all came later.

Blogs and webs are a different way of communicating than the way we used to communicate by letter and words, and is a great way of distributing information.

The name acsian-nostalgia.blogspot.com was chosen because it seemed most appropriate for the posts initially started off with. Depending on the content and who posts, renaming the blog to more accurately reflect the postings is a perfectly valid option.