Men in Uniform

Is it true that girls go for men in uniform? Well, a long time ago some of our friends certainly believed so and went all out trying that strategy. Here are some of the pictures. If you happen to have more, just send them to me & I'll add them on.
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The first picture is of our friend John Lee, the Police Cadet. This was during one of the Sports Days, when the uniformed boys were "on duty". Sorry the photo isn't very clear. I've done whatever photo editing I can to sharpen it, but it looks like they used some primitive pinhole camera from Ah Chui's Physics lab ...
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The next photo shows four smart looking Police Cadets - not sure who's the one leftmost, but I can see Sinos Bartholomew, Harry Goh and John. I also can't recognise the two other boys who are trying to muscle their way into the picture.

What's the point of being a Police Cadet without playing with guns? In the next picture, we have Wilson Chao and John Lee on a Police Cadet exercise trip to Sematan. According to John (who supplied these Cadet pictures) they all had a go with shooting targets (mostly coconuts) using 1.22 rifles.
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(Spot Philip Hii & Koon Teck in photo above)

We mustn't forget the other important uniformed group, the Red Cross or Red Crescent (I can't remember exactly which year the name change came about). Anyway, the next picture shows Cyril "Si Tiaw Mo" (seated, middle) and Leo Sia (seated 2nd from right, who also contributed this picture), among many others whom I'll leave you to identify.

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So the big question remains - do girls really go for men in uniform? Three decades on, I hope some of the ladies looking at this posting will tell them the truth on whether this strategy worked or not ... :-)
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The Way We Were ... (#2 by John Lee)

Recently we had some email inputs from our friend John Lee (Form 5 Arts 1) on his forays into the world of bodybuilding in the 80's. I think this is a perfect item as part of our "The Way We Were" series. Impressive stuff. I'll let John tell you about it in his own words ...
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"Back in the mid 80s when I was still in Kuching, I had to give up playing rugby due to injuries and I joined a local gym, called Silver Gym, ran by Sim Yaw Seng, our senior at SJS. Yaw Seng was into bodybuilding and had won a few prizes in the local bodybuilding contests. Somehow my interest in bodybuilding blossom and with a group of new members, we put a lot of hours into bodybuilding.

Just before I had to leave Kuching in late October 1989, I decided (with a few encouragement from the gym members) to enter a bodybuilding contest and the only one in the calendar was in Sibu. So I entered my name in the competition and the rest was history, I was crowned Mr Novice, Sibu 1989.

(Website Jaga's note: You may need to download & zoom to read the text above)

My theme music for the 3 minute individual performance was: Chariots of Fire.

Enclosed are some photos taken during the competition and some taken at Santubong, a couple of weeks before the competition."

Way to go, John "Mr Novice Sibu 1989" Lee !!!!

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Message to the Ladies

1) If you must scream, please make sure the hubby is not around.

2) Actually most of us in the classes of Form 5 (1976) looked kinda like that under our attire, but we were just too modest to show it :-)

A Gift from John Lee

Our friend John Lee (Form 5 Arts 1) living in Huddersfield, UK sent me an email this morning, and enclosed some absolutely precious photos, whichI'm sure all of the Form 5 Arts 1 members and many others will appreciate.

First here's the note ...

Hi....James

Thanks for the good work you have done in the blogspot so far, long may it continue and thanks to those who have contributed as well. "Spread the word", I would say......not just to our classmates, schoolmates are welcome too as well as from our other sisters and brothers schools. I am sure if there are contributions from them, you can create a separate section.

I have managed to find a couple of old photos of myself (only of my best poses, in my opinion), taken in '75 (with glasses) and another taken in '79. In my searches, I have also come across our form 5 Arts 1, class photo where everyone in the class have put their signature on the back of it.......a treasure!!!

Best wishes

Regards
John

Wow, a treasure indeed. Thanks John for taking good care of such a wonderful momento. So guys, enjoy the photos ...

Front

Back

And now great photos of the young John Lee ...

John (circa 1975)

and leaving the best for last ... (ladies, please control yourself) ...

John (circa 1979)

Movie Memories - "Melody"

Our old friend John Lee in the UK writes ...

"Hi......All

Let's see if anyone of you remember this one:

back in 1971/72, (we were either in primary 6 or form 1) we were taken to see a film called MELODY, featuring Mark Lester and Tracey Hyde with songs from the Bee Gees (First of May, Melody Fair).

see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEG5zOLw3A

[ try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3CcgcXkig
if the above doesn't work - website jaga ]

Remember????

Haha

John"

Yeah, John .... I'm sure most of us have sweet memories of that tucked away somewhere in our subconscious. Indeed, I recall that Mark Lester / Jack Wild / Tracy Hyde movie launched quite a craze among the pubescent boys and girls of the 70's. But for the audience of this blog, I guess the focus is squarely on the cute Tracy Hyde. Mark and Jack who?

For the benefit of those whose memories have gone foggy, "Melody" (or the alternative title "S.W.A.L.K." that it was also released as) was the 1971 movie about two youngsters who declare to their parents that they want to get married. Not sometime in the future but as soon as possible. The story is told from the children's point of view.

A bit of trivia - like us, Tracy Hyde was also born in 1959! (16 May 1959 to be exact - for those of you who want to send a card to this childhood idol of yours, now .. in the words of Sinos .. probably a nenek!)

Still, just to fuel those old hormones, here's a picture of Tracy back in 1971 ...

Caution: If you want to keep your childhood memories of Tracy Hyde intact, do NOT read any further !!! :-)

Tracy Hyde never made it much bigger as an actress after "Melody". A couple of other films and TV shows which didn't have too much impact. She had however quite a fan base in Japan, and according to Wikipedia, in 1994, a Japanese TV station sought out Tracy and sent one of their reporters to go to UK to find her. Mark Lester was contacted and when it was found that Tracy had moved to France, Mark and the reporter both went over there to look for her. She had moved there with her husband and her three sons. In 1999, Mark and Tracy were reunited again in another Japanese TV special. Tracy has since re-married and has returned home to London where she now manages the family business, a kennel boarding service.

(Normally I would quip that Tracy Hyde has gone to the dogs, but that would be unkind :-)

In the News: Chinese get ready for the Year of the Ox

Here's a piece by Katie Campling in the "Huddersfield Daily Examiner" newspaper on Jan 14, 2009, which features our old friend John Lee, now living in the UK ...

An extravaganza of traditional celebrations will see in the Chinese New Year later this month.

Huddersfield Chinese Community Centre has organised a day of entertainment to celebrate the dawn of the Year of the Ox.

The event will be on Saturday January 24 at the National Children’s Centre at New North Parade – although Chinese New Year does not officially start until January 26.

The day of fun will start with a traditional Chinese lion dance at 11.30am, followed by demonstrations of martial art tai chi and a children’s music and dance performance.

A more energetic martial arts display of Taekwondo will take place after lunch, followed by a Chinese music performance and magic show.

There will also be a variety of stalls offering arts and crafts, food, jewellery, herbs and medicines and calligraphy.

It costs £1 for adults to visit the event and entry is free for under 12s.

Last year’s event at the start of the Year of the Rat attracted 600 people and the Association is hoping for a big attendance this year.

The Chinese New Year event is one of the highlight of the calendar for the Chinese Community Association, which is based at Cambridge Road.

John Lee, the new chairman of the Association’s board of trustees, said events like this helped attract people of all cultures to the association.

He said: “There will be something for everyone. People don’t have to be Chinese. The group is for anyone interested in the culture and history or in learning language such as Mandarin.

“It’s a chance to meet people and gain skills or join in activities. For instance, older people like to come and meet to play mah jong.”

Mr Lee is keen to promote the different activities the Association offers.

They include translation services, Mandarin language classes, tai chi classes, English classes and Chinese catering services for people in their homes.

Mr Lee said: “There are quite a number of Chinese origin people who don’t know we exist or what we offer.

“Chinese people tend to be quite spread around, we don’t all live the same community. So it’s good to have the group as a focal point.

“We do offer a wide range of things for all kinds of people.”

Way to go, John !

The original website can be found at http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2009/01/14/chinese-get-ready-for-the-year-of-the-ox-86081-22685416/