Spots at the school — and snippets

ALL OF us came to school not knowing what to expect. For me, after a couple of years of fear and caution, the premises turned into a playground — and, in retrospect, I wished my parents hadn’t been so protective so I could have joined my friends more at school. Even then, I can recall a wealth of snippets.

This story is woefully incomplete. I hope my former schoolmates will fill in the blanks and, perhaps, turn parts of these notes into full-fledged stories.

Cheeseman Hall

• On speech day, we would hold our annual concert here in the evening. The art and craft exhibitions would be in the classes on the ground floor.
• On Saturday mornings, the hall would be our Cinema Club’s domain (for part of the year, at least).
• During weekdays, we used it for badminton, table tennis, etc.
• The school also held special assemblies, sometimes for performances like magic shows, in the hall.

The school field

• One of the largest among primary school fields, it can easily accommodate a 400-metre track. Sports Day was big, however, I can scarcely remember anything except the white wooden hurdles, the march past with our House flags… I should remember how we assembled, how athletics were conducted, how the scores were displayed, the free Milo, etc, but it is all a blank. What I can never forget, however, was Wolfe House, my house, was last for all the six years I was there.
• I recall playing football on the field but nothing much more. The sportsmen should give us a great story about the field.
• We played mata chat (cops and robbers). We might have played chiak bak there too. I am not sure, but we definitely did at PFS later.

School office

• The details of the school office elude me. I can barely remember Hanifah the office boy who went round selling stationery.
• The senior assistants, like Mr Teoh Chooi Hor or Mr Gotham, occupied a place there.
• Every day, attendance would be taken at every class and the books sent to the office. It was also the repository for all the reports the teachers had to fill in.

Canteen

• The canteen served drinks, tidbits, Indian Muslim mee (goreng and rebus), Penang Hokkien mee (10-15 cents a bowl), Indian popiah, etc. I need my friends to spell out the "etc". Canteen breaks were fun — we used to play a lot of games during the half-hour "recess". We should have a separate story on the canteen and break time.

Kachang puteh stall

• Strategically located near the canteen between class C6 and the new block, the lady's stall would sell kachang at only 5 cents per paper-made cone.

Library

• We had our regular library classes there — free time for most of us. Once in a while, the room would be used by the authorities for health inspection of the students. It was also used for vaccination (e.g. against TB) and inoculations (e.g. against cholera). The nurses would come with a boiler to sterilise all the needles before re-using them. One of our fears was getting a shot with a blunt needle.

Corridors

• WPS corridors were spacious, so while waiting to go to class, we would play games like tanchu (or jianzi) — kicking a shuttlecock-like toy made of chicken feathers weighed down by rubber from bicycle tubing. If we didn’t have the feathered version, we would tie frangipani flowers together and kick them until they turned brown and fluffy.

• We would also play cards — two boys clapping our hands with a card in each hand and letting them fall. The winner would be the one with the coloured side facing upwards. If they were the same (both coloured or both grey), it’s a draw.

Teachers’ common room

• One of the most shameful punishments, if I remember correctly, was to be asked to stand in the common room during break under the gaze of all the teachers.

Space between canteen and classes C5 and C6

• This was where we phak kan lok (played tops) and thee thok guli or main guli (played marbles) because the whole area was sand and stones, with hardly any grass. Remember the “chun” marble we called lunggu?
• Remember the phak chneow! of marbles when the bell rang for end of "recess"?
• When we played tops, there was a move called jingki in which we tossed-spun the top forward and pulled it back while it was spinning in the air — and then let it land spinning on our palm.

Flag posts

• We used to assemble before the flag posts for the flag-raising by the head boy and subsequently sing Negaraku.

Bookshop

• The bookshop was monopolised by United Book Company of Carnarvon Street. Each year we would try to buy as many books as possible from the bookshop according to the booklist. As the eldest, I did not have hand-me-downs so if we could not get them at school, the alternative would be to go to Carnarvon Street.

Hawkers at the gates

• The hawkers at the main gate served us drinks (5 cents a glass), tidbits (10 cents a packet at most) and iceballs. The syrup would come in different colours — red (rose), green and brown (sarsi).
• There was always a “draw” wherein we paid 5 cents, peeled off a piece of folded paper stuck to a large card to get a number. Once in a while we would strike — get a prize when our number corresponded with any of those on display. I cannot remember what the consolation prize was. A former classmate, Sukumaran, rightly calls this tikam.
• The hawker at the back gate sold sugar cane water and leong fun. Can cham (or mix). Can also tambah (add) a bit.

My class locations and teachers

• Std 1C, 1960, was in C3 (afternoon session under Mr John Low Thean Hock)
• Std 2A, 1961, in C12 (afternoon under Ms Chan Ai Mooi)
• Std 3A, 1962 (afternoon at C6 under Ms Khoo, then at WSS; later shifted to C13 in the morning under Mr John Low Thean Hock)
• Std 4A, 1963 (C3, morning, under Mrs Yeoh Poey Chee)
• Std 5A, 1964 (C7, morning, under Mr Thomas Khor)
• Std 6 Blue, 1965 (C12, morning, under Mr Tan Eng Chuan)

© Lim Siang Jin 2018

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