St. Patrick's School, Singapore, 3.

St. Patrick's School, Singapore:.
An Album of Past Images.

Page 3.

by Terry Foenander.

Click on image,
above, to access
the school web
site.

A report from the Singapore Straits Times newspaper. (Courtesy of Eric Lim).

A report of another death in the family. (Courtesy of Eric Lim).

Another article relating to Brother McNally's death. (Courtesy of Eric Lim).

Secondary 4 Arts 1 Front row, Left to right, Ronnie Cheok, unknown, unknown, Glen D'Vries (monitor), Mr Chong Chin Tat (form teacher), Tony Yeo Chiang Liat (monitor), Julian D'Oliverio, Paul Ang, unknown, Bhupathy Nabham (is in fact Bob Padmanabham, now residing in Perth, Western Australia), unknown, Middle Row:Tan Ban Leong, unknown, unknown, Leon Lim, Chan Siew Mun, unknown, Johnny ?, Alvin Desker, Steven Wong, Clement Franklin, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown,Back Row: unknown, unknown, Peter Yee, Steven Loh, Chew ?, Tay Kiat Seng, Lawrence, Gilbert Sanchez, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, Ng Jui Kiang, Goh Chwee Huat?.
(This image, as well as the identification details, were contributed by Mr. Tony Yeo Chiang Liat.)

Then and Now:
(Some reminiscences of Steve Cordeiro, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)

Lim Soo Howe - better known as "Iron Ball" Lim. [Web site author's note: I have no idea about it, so don't ask me about the nickname, please. Send all your queries on this particular one to Mr. Cordeiro, e-mail address shown at the register.]

Vincent Liew - when he first joined St. Patrick's, it was rumored that he was a Thai boxer.

Then and Now:
(Some reminiscences of Tony Yeo Chiang Liat, of Singapore)

*Malcolm Norfor was not [in my class], but we knew each other in the Scouts in 1968 and 1969 and had great adventures and such a good time that we vowed to remain friends and "brudders" forever. We met recently with Venture Scout Master Patrick Tan and caught up with each other.

*I had been in St Patricks since 1964 coming from St Stephen's after Primary 6 in 1963. It was the time of long pants and feeling grown up. It was the time of plastering my hair everyday with tancho (remember tancho?) as my hair was just not like everybody else. It stood up everytime I went to the Indian barber just behind my house in Siglap. I hated the Indian barber then but it was the devil or the deep blue sea - the dreaded Chinese barber who was said to put a bowl over your head and snip off everything not covered. St Patrick's School was then at the seafront. Every morning I would walk to School as I stayed at 20 Burnfoot Terrace, just a 5/10 mins walk. Upon entering the gates the school prefects would be on duty but I was always early and hence had no trouble. I was the quiet guy in class who sat in front and listened to every word the teacher said. I was terrified of failing and was so worried that I would sneak to the chapel everyday to pray even though I was not baptised. I attended the mass and even took communion once and was told by Stephen Loh, the class clown and boarder (stays in school) that I could'nt and if I bit the host, blood would come out. I was so terrified I stopped immediately. I remember in St Stephen's when we all had to attend Cathecism class and the teacher said we had to say our prayers everynight before sleeping because if we forget and we die in our sleep we will go to purgotory or hell. I was so afraid I said prayers everynight. The Catholic faith was in the psyche. It was the faith I chose later in life when I needed a religion and spiritual strength to overcome the turbulence of life.

*I was not a Catholic yet and hence went by the name Chiang Liat. All my teachers called me Chiang Liat and all my classmates know me as Chiang Liat. The name Tony did not come to be till I joined the Scouts and went to parties ( the girls could not remember Chiang Liat but Tony no problem.) My family had all chosen christian names and I was asked to chose mine. I pondered and chose Tony as I had a friend in primary school whose name was Anthony and he was the only friend I had. He visited me and played dominoes with me when I had no friends. He was the nicest person I knew then. Back to St Patricks School and the class of '67.

*I was the baby of the class and only 15+ as I was born on Nov 28th 1951. It was the year when everyone was taking the O levels and we were told if we did not pass and do well we will be sweeping the drains. All ECA (extra curricular activities) had ceased as we prepared for the O's. I was terrified of failing but I noticed the rest of the class were not bothered at all. I was not the brilliant scholar but just the struggling and terrified student. I knew that many in the class did not need to study very much and did very well as they had great retention skills and were bright and intelligent. I knew that if I followed them I would fail. I loved the subject Commerce, as the teacher Mr Chong was very methodical and always wrote the points on the blackboard. I copied everyword in class and rewrote everyword at home neatly as I figuered it would help remember the points. My 2 Commerce notebooks took me through the tests and exams and finally the O levels. I got my A's and a bookprize which I kept till today. Although I had a few other subjects that I also liked and did well I was poor at Maths. I remember teacher Mr Choo Cheok Hai who was the master and was also very methodical and patient but I still failed. I was desparate and joined my eldest brother's tuition class ( he was a teacher then in Dunman High). The 10 year series and the daily practice and more practice got me through. I remember Shakespear and memorising Potia's "The Quality of Mercy" from The Merchant of Veniece. It was agony studying Shakespear. What the hell was the guy talking about. The teacher had to explain every line and I wrote the meaning above the sentence. Then rushed to Tanjong Katong Road [Indian] bookshop to buy the easy to read and understand NOTES.

*Being monitor in the class was also not easy. No one liked me as I took their names down if they talked and the teacher was not in. Glen once told me to stop doing it. I agreed but wondered why be monitor when you did not want to do your job.

*I remember trying to study as well as to make friends. I had known Ng Jui Kiang and Goh Chwee Huat in Sec 3 and we visited each other and tried to have fun. Then I joined Steven Wong (SIA) , Johnny (Perth ?), Paul Ang ( Businessman) and Gilbert Sanchez ( now in UK ) and we rode our bicycles during the school holidays to JB (Johore). It was not until 1968 when I joined the Scouts that I felt like part of the gang. Bhupathy and Malcolm as well as Kenny Goh and others in the Scouts were different from the other friends. The Scout laws and value system that we had to abide to as well as the Scout's honour and culture were the binding factors although there were the usual squabbles and troubles. The Scouts den was just close to the sceptic tanks and we had our fun around the area. I joined Bhupathy and Malcolm on many Scouting adventures and we had great fun and vowed to remain friends for life - 30 years and we still meet whenever Bhupathy returns from Perth. We take each other as we are and do not expect any change. Just the same fun and adventure when we meet. We remain friends no matter what others say.

*The sea was just a walk away from the School. I remember walking out the back gate to the sea and recall the green creepers on the sand. Once I decided to get Goh Chwee Huat? and walked home by the sea. The beach then reached the rear walls of other people's homes with the sea rushing against the wall and then a deadend and trouble. It was the sense of adventure. I reached home safe but wet.

Then and Now:
(Some reminiscences of Dudley Lim, of Singapore)

I remember Leo Netto, he was in our class and during one of the team event long distance run around the school (start at St Pat, loop around Katong Convent along the beach and up to Siglap and back to School along East Coast Rd), Leo surprised all of us by coming in first in his round, I think he was the first of four or five runners and left the competition way behind. Secretly he trained running along the beach which is harder to run because of soft sands for this event but he was always low key not in the limelight. Never met up with him since leaving school.

Then and Now:
(Some reminiscences of Terry De Souza, of Antioch, California)

* I attended St. Patrick's School from 1933 to 1940 (Senior Cambridge). My cousin, Brother Justinian de Souza, was once [at a later stage] the principal of the school.
* I did not join the Singapore Volunteer Corps in 1941, after leaving St. Patrick's. Most of my fellow school mates did join, though. My elder brother, Clive, did join in 1940, and was mobilized two or three weeks before December 8, 1941 [when the Japanese invasion of the Malayan Peninsula commenced], together with Oswald Hogan, our next door neighbor at 11 Upper Wilkie Road. Clive was taken prisoner with Oswald and spent most of the rest of the war in Thailand.
* [In] 1932, when SPS opened for business, Brother Stephen was then the principal, and some other teachers I remember, were Snodgrass, Arthur Phillips, Nicholas, and Frank James. We had quite an international collection of Brothers from Ireland, France, Germany, Wales, Czechoslovakia, Burma, Singapore and a few others I can't remember. The French brother and the German Brother Valerian were excellent maths teachers.
* Brother Justinian was my first cousin, and I visited him and my other cousin, Father Ranie Ashness, in 1989, my first visit to Singapore since 1946, when I left Singapore for Britain. SPS was no longer by the sea. How sad - I spent many happy days near the water.
* 1936 was the year the first Senior Cambridge students had graduated from SPS.

Important Notice to all 'old boys' of St. Patrick's School!

A Request for Contributions to the School Archives:

The school is now forming an archives of historical material and memorabilia, and would like to request contributions from all former students, please. Instead of consigning your old report cards, photographs, badges, and other similar material to the rubbish bin, please consider sending such items to the school for storage, for the benefit of researchers and other students.
Please contact Mr. Raj Gill, Head of the Department of Humanities, if you have anything of interest to contribute to the archives.

Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Please continue on to Page 4: A Memoir by Andrew Leong.

Return to page 2.

Names, current residences and contact information of 'old boys' can be found at the Register of Past Students, St. Patrick's School, Singapore page. To include your details, please contact the author, Terry Foenander.

Links to some of my other web pages:

On the American Civil War Navies.

A brief bio with additional links to pages on Singapore, etc.

The following web site includes some profiles of past students of the school, and is an attempt to connect 'old boys' with their former buddies: St. Patrick's School Alumni

Check out The Patrician Society, a group of our fellow "old boys," now restrengthened through the efforts of former students such as Vice President, Vincent Low.

The Eurasian Company of the Singapore Volunteer Corps. The Singapore Volunteer Corps was a militia unit formed in this British island colony in the 19th Century. At a later stage, island residents were permitted to enlist in the unit, resulting in the formation of Chinese, Malay and Eurasian Companies. This particular site relates to one of those Companies.

July, 2001 (Updated, December 2001).