At their weekly meeting spot, (seated, from left) Chow, Peter Wong, Foong Kwan Sek, Goh Kim Chuan, Lau Wen Chew, Rina Low, Low Beng Hock, Ong and Wong Heng; (standing, from left) Teoh, Choong Loo Kong, Tam Tai Kim and Aw.
WHEN it comes to making an appointment with Chow Chee Keong, 86, it must be noted that he will not avail himself on Tuesday mornings.
These are for tea with his former classmates from Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) Ipoh, now known as SMK Methodist Ipoh, Perak.
The weekly gathering is something Chow has looked forward to since the group began meeting at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, in 2011.
Chow said his main motivation behind attending the meet-ups was to enjoy time with his childhood friends.
Though he has become hard of hearing and can hardly make out the conversations, he enjoys the camaraderie.
“Social contact is important to me. It makes me happy,” he said.
The group of former schoolmates are usually made up of a dozen members.
A majority are from the Class of 1958.
Some of them come from as far away as Gombak, Selangor, and a few attend with their spouses.
The weekly meets had been suggested during a reunion dinner in 2010 by Chow, Ong Kean Beng, 84, and the late Yeoh Seng Kooi (who passed away in 2019).
“That was when we realised that no fewer than 30 ACS Ipoh old boys were residing in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur,” said Aw Swee Lim, 82.
“The response to that suggestion was extremely good.
“The weekly gathering was so well-known that it was featured in the Class of ’58 60th anniversary yearbook.
“Due to the publicity, those who have migrated overseas but who are visiting Malaysia will also come to the restaurant opposite Chow’s house to catch up with old friends,” Aw added.
After meeting every week for the past 14 years, hasn’t the group of friends, who are sometimes accompanied by their wives, run out of things to say?
“As the Chinese say, we’d ‘talk three, talk four’, which means that we would talk about anything under the sun,” quipped Chow.
Rasammah (left) with Brown at the 2009 reunion dinner as pictured in the Class of 1958 Yearbook.
Topics of interest are current events and health issues as well as plans for upcoming alumni gatherings.
“Nobody has achieved a 100% attendance due to other commitments like doctors’ appointments,” said Ong.
“However, the weekly meet-ups carry on regardless of festivities like Chinese New Year, and whoever can come will show up.
“At least six people usually attend.”
The original day set for the weekly gathering was Wednesday but due to a high absenteeism rate, it was changed to Tuesday.
Typical of gatherings involving former schoolmates, conversation topics evolve around childhood adventures.
A story they never tire of is one of them swimming in Sungai Kinta, in particular the stretch located behind the Young Women’s Christian Association at Jalan Raja Muda Aziz (formerly Anderson Road) in Ipoh.
The river was then clean enough to bathe in.
As ACS Ipoh also had a swimming pool, they recall one of their teachers, the late Oh Boon Lian, who would make them swim up to 50 laps before they were allowed to take a break.
They quoted his motto, “You can do it if you want”, and said slackers had to go through an extra hour of water polo.
Ong said Oh set up the school’s swimming curriculum in 1957 and was instrumental in the building of the pool.
Other unforgettable memories were the yearly Shakespearean school plays.
In one of these plays, namely Macbeth, Andrew Teoh, 83, remembers having a role.
“These plays were meant to help literature students in their exams,” recalled Teoh.
“Many of us would watch these plays to help us pass.”
Describing their teachers as “caring”, the group revealed how alumni members had pooled their resources to pay for the airfare and hotel stay of their late teacher Thomas Brown so that he could attend a reunion dinner in 2009.
Brown had been responsible for setting up ACS Ipoh’s library and was well remembered for his unusual way of motivating students.
Teoh recalled how Brown would take a student aside to tell him that he was at risk of failing.
Having alarmed the poor student, Brown would then assure him that the prediction would not come true if the student spent a few extra hours in tuition with him after school.
Naturally, these students were more than ready to comply.
The group also remembers Datuk Rasammah Bhupalan who taught them History in Forms 4 and 5 and was described as a stern teacher.
The women’s rights activist was seen at the ACS Ipoh reunion dinners in 2009 and 2018.
The group members say they intend to meet and stay in touch for as long as they can.
They even have a Zoom group to stay connected with classmates who have migrated overseas.
