Pretty Simply Normal: A TKC Album

I have already written about my schoolgirl days in TKC (blog post: 18 August 2011). I could write a book about the seven years spent there, but then again, I would rather just post pictures for now. After all "a picture is worth a thousand words". So this posting has many thousand words indeed! I realise that black & white pictures of the 1960's preserve better than the later colour ones. These below that have survived the decades, have been 'rephoto-ed' (because my scanner has conked out), so please excuse the odd glare or blotch and also the original blur.

The Buildings: there was the main school block, the hall, the four residential blocks, the dining hall, and the sick bay.

The School block, where in the morning we go to school and
in the evening, we do our prep.

The Hall used for assemblies, exams, speech days, PE, concerts, flings, etc.

The sick bay through the Red House block railing. The matron
had to deal with sick students and the not so sick who had boils
in odd places! Don't ask where.

The Class pictures

Form 1 with class teacher Mrs Kwok. 'Freshies' to TKC
wear all-white uniform the first year.

Form 2 with class teacher Miss Sobita Sinha (my favourite teacher
whose enthusiasm for literature was passed down to her pupils, including moi).

Form 3 with class teacher Che Arfah, a new graduate teacher.

The Societies: We were very active in various societies - Science & Maths, Malay Language & Debating, English Language & Debating, etc. But I enjoyed the less formal (more fun) ones like the Philharmonic Society and the Gardening Club.

Science & Maths Society Committee with Puan Hasnah & Miss Vaughan

... (?) Society Committee with Miss Black, Puan Hasnah & Miss Ellis

The Houses: the four residential blocks or Houses were Mahsuri (Red), Tun Fatimah (Blue), Selendang Delima (Green) and Siti Zawiah (Yellow). Apart from the daily tidying and cleaning of our dorms/rooms, residents of each block had to do the weekend housekeeping of the whole block - spring cleaning the lounge, the ironing & laundry rooms, and the bathrooms.

The Mahsuri or Red House members 1964

The Concerts: there were concerts every annual speech day, and for special occasions like when the school received visiting dignitaries. We also attended concerts in town (Seremban).

A bouquet for Tun Farideh Diba from Iran

Miss Black takes a bow for the School Band after our
maiden performance. I play the trumpet.

A special concert for visiting laureate Usman Awang
L-R: Sharifah Muzarah, Rozita, Ain, me, Rody, & Noni.

The Phoenix Singers from the US performed at the Seremban Town Hall. I distinctly
remember everyone in the audience (including moi) enjoying the show and
~~stomping~~ tapping the floor of the town hall with great gusto!

Spot moi, Su, Zaleha, Neon, & others in the audience. Note our funny looking glasses!

The Sports: We did a lot of sports in those days - athletics, netball, hockey, badminton, etc. But the biggest day was of course the annual Sports Day. We all practiced long and hard to win the march past!

Jumping the hurdles on Sports Day

The March Past (Mahsuri/Red House)

Red House posing with the trophies at the end of a Sports Day

The School Excursions and Outings: We had our monthly outings to Seremban town (where we enjoyed the movies and eating at our favourite places I remember the delicious ABC and the delectable mee hailam, yum yum ...) and occasional trips to Port Dickson (the nearest beach). Then there were the outstation excursions (read: educational trips) to Pahang (Cameron Highlands) and Perak (Ipoh, Taiping, Kuala Kangsar), etc.

At the Istana Iskandariah, Kuala Kangsar, after our school debate with MCKK.
Tengku Dotty, our junior, is the daughter of the Perak Sultan then. Here we
pose with her mother and two siblings. Misses Bergen & Vaughan were our
accompanying teachers.

At the Istana Kenangan which was our accomodation while in Perak.
The beautiful all wooden structure is traditional architecture at its best.
Here I am with Maheran, Siti Hawa, Narim and Zale.

With Siti Hawa, Zale, Lin & Narim at the Taiping Lake Gardens.
We also visited the Zoo where I remember grappling with a macaque
to get back Siti's camera it had snatched. (But I'm sure she remembers this
incident quite differently!)

At Port Dickson beach with Suriani, Siti Hawa & Mariah. PD was a treat always.

The year end parties

After the Farewell party of the Class of '70, with Puan Hasnah & daughter

The Informal activities

The weekend flings. How we loved to dance in those days (and I suspect
we still do now). We did the polka, waltz, rhumba, cha cha .... plus joget, zapin, etc.
Note that most of us here wore batik sarong.