Friday 7th September 2012 will be long remembered by me as well as many as 60 of my Primary - Secondary school classmates. Why ? Well, for one, we all (save for a few chaps who repeated 1 year or 2), 90 percent of us were 1962 babies, born in the Boomer years practically less than 20 years after the 2nd World War. So, yeah, we turn 50 or a half century old this year !
Why celebrate your entrance into full middle age ? Some of you might ask , well why not ? We have had many times to be reflective, many things to be thankful for, and some things which we have some regrets and one important thing, we are ALIVE and for the most part, HEALTHY.
That in itself is something I thank God for !
Many of us (not all) are married, a number are divorced (some twice), some have been single all this while, but whatever their marital status, and sexual orientation, it was indeed a joyful occasion to meet, catch up - some of us had never even met up since 1978, a grand total of 34 years !! - play football like when we were in Secondary 1 - 3 (ages 13 - 15), without a care in the world except whether we would be caught by the prefects (ons of them is the current Minister in the Prime Minister's Office mind you) because, without fail, all of us would come into class at 1.10pm every weekday smelling like a bunch of dead rats ! Our form teachers, ranging from a Mrs Lim (aka Penguin), Checkgu (Teacher in Malay), Mrs Krempel (May her soul rest in peace), Mrs. Diana Wong (My 2C Form teacher), Mrs. Huang (a real toughie), and of course Mr. Victor Wee (our discipline master for the entire Secondary and Pre -U cohort) had to put up with this bunch of playful, noisy, smelly, slacking jokers who would not be in the least bit motivated to hand in their homework unless threatened with house calls and caning.
Many unforgettable stories came thick and fast, who was the most sexy teacher, who had the public caning for having porn magazines, who beat up whom, and sadly, who amongst our cohort had passed away.
Part of the St. Andrew's Village encompassing the Primary,
Secondary School and Junior College all in one 'village'
The old school field is now an artificial one made of Astroturf.
Names like Andrew Fok, Raymond Goh and Zulkilfi were names bandied around as those who have left this world. I pray that our bunch of Old Boys stay steadfastly connected through our Old School which had left such indelidible imprints on our lives. I quote from the School Song by John Oxenham :
"Lives are in the making here,
Hearts are in the waking here,
Mighty Undetrtaking here,
Up and On !
We are arming for the fight
Pressing On with all our might
Pluming wings for higher flight
Up and On ! "
Such poetic wisdom in those words.
To all my lifelong friends, the Saints, let me say this :
" Keep the flame burning brightly ever !"
We have run 1/2 the race, lets run the other half in the true Saints Spirit and with Grace.
Up and On !!
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