SCHOOL LIFE
Who can forget the uniform of our time? The pleated, navy pinafore and the white blouse.............very smart, indeed ! The cotton pinafores, though, were a major headache to those who laundered them and those wore them. All the starching! All the steam ironing ! Mondays were the days when all the pupils looked fresh in their crisply, ironed uniforms. Fridays ? Well, the opposite was present. To-day's uniforms are far more practical and child-friendly. At primary school, we wore navy bloomers for P.E...they were rather strange outfits! At senior level, we wore bottle-green shorts. I still wonder why green was the chosen colour.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
Simple, rectangular badges in red, blue, yellow and green were used to divide the large pupil- population. The system did not reflect on the academic merits of the pupils. Each pupil had the same colour throughout her school-life.We were proud of our respective colours , especially on Sports Days and Games' Evenings. I was in Blue House.
HOUSE BADGES
Every morning, a few hundred bicycles were stacked against one another in this so-called shed, at the back of the school. Whenever a bike on the end happened to fall, there was a tremendous clanging of metal as all the bikes toppled down in a domino effect. Disentangling them was a test of patience !
BIKE SHED
Recess was at about 10.30 a.m. Though most of us took snacks from home, tuck-shop goodies were great, too. For 5cts. a piece, the variety of M'sian cakes and snacks available, were fantastic. I always chose tapioca cake and peanut brittle. Everyone scrambled for the corner pieces as they were always the big ones ! In the heat of the mid-morning sun, we quenched our thirst with drinks made of syrup and manually-grated ice. We were far too lady-like to walk around with dripping, syrupy "ice-balls".
RECESS TIME
Girl Guides, Red Cross Society, Young Christian Association, Debating Society, etc, etc. There were clubs galore ! As a member of the Red Cross Soc., I enjoyed the trips to Pangkor, Lumut ,etc, far more than first aid ! The weekly Games Evening- when everyone belonging to the same house - colour met- was a time of loyalty, healthy competitiveness and united aim to win many cups/shields for the House. The two-day sports days were always full of excitement . Remember the free bottles of cold, orange squash supplied by Fraser and Neave on those occasions? Good marketing tactics by F&N! The same applies to ovaltine. Once a year, with our lessons interrupted, we queued up military-style to be given large cones of ice-cool ovaltine. Children's Day ? Alas, not for those in Secondary school. I took part in the Talent Competition of 65. I lacked the talent but I did have the courage ! Occasionally, interesting films were shown in the big hall and always in the afternoons, thus giving us time to hoard up with sour-kannas, peanuts, etc during recess time to nibble during the shows! What stands most in my mind, though, is the anxiety in the air whenever the projector broke down. Luckily, the problems were always dealt with successfully by the technical-minded teachers.
ACTIVITIES
.........I wonder if the gigantic bread-fruit tree, which stood by the Art class, has managed to survive the ravages of time.