Tan Siew Kiat and Tong Siew Bee were among the first to arrive to be followed by Loh Hong Tian and Oon Pek Choo . TMIS teacher Mr. Chew & wife and Mr. Chua and other students filled in by and by. En masse, an account of such nitty-gritty seemed trivial and unnecessary, but being thus welcome has a special personal meaning to each guest. Worth mentioning is one late comer to the group – Yeo Sak Aip (5SD)who took the trouble to drive all the way from Penang just to be part of the group. The reunion had meant so much to him.
The company and conversation must have been excellent judging from the sustained enthusiasm and the how deeply they had engrossed themselves in the lively exchanges. Good natured bantering and hearty laughs filled the whole place as people got into high spirit seeing more and more once familiar faces appearing before them. Identifying ‘who was who’ became an exciting game as guests tried to guess who each other was.
Think about it, when is the last time in a social setting in which you can turn around and come upon people with whom you have no reservation about striking up a conversation? There is some truth in what Tan Jin Wah and Tan Boon Chip had mentioned in the very beginning while we were deciding on the mode of rendezvous for SSP76’s first reunion : that a three-hour gathering would be too short a time for adequate intermingling for such a special occasion. There was just too much to catch up.
I arrived a little late with Lee Fei Fung at about 7 p.m. as my friend who drove had a busy schedule on that day. The first moment of contact was scintillating and walking past the ‘tunnel’ of former schoolmates to be greeted warmly by each was such a touching sensation. There was no time to register each person as extended hands were offered me but that I must do:
…‘Chan Kok keong ‘…. ‘Ng Bak Seng’…. ‘Tan Ban Hua’ …..‘Tan Ee Keng’…..‘Yeoh Ah Yong’…. ‘Chin Sik Fong’… ‘Tong Siew Bee’… ‘Tong Siew Peng’…….
The Pekan Nenas representatives comprised of Tan Jin Way, Chin Kek Ming, Koh Hoi Eng and Tan Mei Leng. They seemed well pleased with the crowd and joined the party earnestly though they had had their own close-knit reunion a few months ago this year.
The rest of the teachers including Mrs. Mattew & husband, Mr. Tan King Sik, Mr. Wong Kim Hong, Mr. Josepf Santiago etc arrived to be welcome warmly by all. Some of them greeted SBS actor Yap Say Ping, recognizing him from television drama series. I went forward to shake hands with him and his companion Sim Kian Chua and they commented that I was easily recognized. In turn, I had no trouble identifying my Bin Chong Primary School classmates Lee Beng Huat, Goh Yok Loong and Yeo Chan Huat. It was such a happy moment just to see their faces yet once more.
Once most students had arrived, they sought out their classmates in SSP for more in-depth catching up as relationships among them are especially intimate. It was interesting to note how they had intuitively gathered together and seated themselves at a chosen table.
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