Former classmates enjoying each other’s company during a reunion dinner in Kuching.
WHETHER it has been 10, 20 or 50 years, most classmates still hold reunions for several reasons – and nostalgia is high on the list.
It’s always good meeting and seeing old friends again after a long absence. Even with the passage of time when most things slip out of sight —- and out of mind — this sort of relationship somewhow endures. Perhaps, it’s also because absence makes the heart grow fonder.
For the “C” Class of Penrissen School at Mile 12 Kuching-Serian Road, a recent reunion dinner at a hotel in Kuching drew together over 20 former junior secondary classmates —- after a lapse of nearly half a century.
The alumni, all now in their sixties, left the school in 1971. That means many of them have not seen one another for 46 years.
They were only 15-year-olds when they left school. Some of them did meet again when they went to higher secondary schools.
The ‘C’ Class consisted of all boys who were doing a course on husbandry. They learned farming, growing fruits and vegetables, and rearing livestock and fish. Although there were times they had to toil under the sun and rain, they enjoyed the practical side of the course.
The unforgettable part of it was a boat trip to Santubong for an overnight stay. It was the first outing for many of them and they paid their way with the money from the livestock they reared and sold.
“We felt so happy and proud back then because we got to enjoy what we earned,” said Wilson Chung, the organiser of the outing, and also the first to moot the idea of the reunion after starting a WhatsApp chat group under the name 3C Penrissen 1971.
He said the outing was led by their form teacher Jimmy Kueh, adding that they were “very honoured” to also have their principal Ng Siaw Leng with them.
Meeting each other again after 46 years.
Another reunion attendee Jameson Kimat confessed he would not have been able to recognise a number of his former classmates had he not met them at the function.
He said some of them had changed quite a lot and he would not have greeted any of them even if he bumped into them in the streets before the reunion. However, he did notice a few do not seem to have changed all that much.
“You could instantly recognise them from miles away, so to speak. They still look so youthful,” he enthused.
The sad thing, he noted, was that some of their old classmates had passed on and “of course we all missed them when their names were mentioned at the dinner. We were overwhelmed by nostalgia.”
Jameson said he was overcome by a “sweet-sorrow” feeling when he recalled his time with these classmates and there were moments he had to fight back tears.
Ngi Chong who was the MC, concurred with Jameson that they were saddened by the thought of some classmates having left them, at the same time glad those still around could meet up again in their sixties.
He said although they were in their twilight years, they could still feel happy — like children — when they got to meet again, adding: “We enjoy each other’s company just like in the good old days.”
He pointed out that was why he felt the reunion was a “very precious moment” for all them to cherish.
Ngi Chong understood many more had wanted to come but were unable due to other commitments.
He said one of them, who happened to be still holidaying overseas with his family at the time, admitted he felt really sad to have missed such a “gorgeous opportunity.”
The “C” Class of Penrissen School who made a trip to Santubong in connection with their course on husbandry in 1970.