Time moves on

Teddy and Lily at their wedding.
On the left is Francis and on their right is their mum.

These are the photos I have been able to collect in my recent visit.
Left to right: Francis, Dorothy, and Teddy Unfortunately Dorothy passed away at about three. 

At the hotel foyer

Peggy and William 

At the hotel Foyer

Teddy and Lily .

Sabah -- cont....

The Swedish couple we met on tour of Mt Kinabalu. They had heard of durians but had never tasted them. It was during this trip that they took the opportunity to savour the tasty flesh of the fruit but remained disappointingly and politely neutral. 'It was OK' admitted the wife. 

Welcome to K.K ( Kota Kinabalu)

An enjoyable stay lasting four days and three nights.
Food? was excellent - most yammy.
Very enjoyable

Sabah

Unimaginably clean and green


Rafflesia -- a parasitic plant some as large as 3 ft across -- first discovered by Stamford Raffles. This one was located on the way to the Mt Kinabalu.

Visit to Sabah

Our recent visit to the old country included a brief visit to Sabah, East Malaysia, hosted by Teddy and Lily.
The country has a well developed and thriving eco-tourist industry. Kota Kinabalu is developing at an unimaginable rate. Buildings are springing up here there and everywhere
We were surprised to find that the toilet facilities are the cleanest in the country including the smallest villages and costing us nothing for our use.
If you like scuba diving this is the place to visit.

In Scotland

Our visit to Scotland
On one of our British Council Courses. 

Good old days

It is good to be reminded of the good old days.
If only things don't change(wishful thinking) 

Snow

Look it is snowing!
Their first sight of snow.

 

How we got around

Hitching was fun and what made it so popular was because it was easy and safe. Don’t forget this was in the early fifties. All we had to do was to get to the road that would take us towards our destination and start hitching. Before long someone would turn up. He would lean forward and beckon you to hop in before even finding out where you were heading for. If you were lucky he would even drive you to your destination if it was not too far out of his way. It was easy because they were curious and would like to find out where you were from.
It was quite common for some to insist that you share their lunch with them while they enjoyed a conversation with you. It happened to many of us. Those were the days when people felt safe. Things like robbery and drugs were not common. Nobody expected to be robbed by the people they had picked up.
This was not only true in the British Isles but in the continent as well. I hitch hiked most of the time when I was alone or travelling with someone else. We hitched hiked through Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland on one of our summer holidays. We took the train from Geneva to Paris because the French were not too happy to stop for strangers.
We had had lifts in cars, trucks, and at one stage a friend of mine accepted a lift on a motorbike as a pillion. It took him from the Belgium border to some small town inside Germany. We met later that evening at the appointed youth hostel.
I did try cycling once but the wind was so strong it blew me over the kerb and that as the end of my cycling experience.
The other mode of transportation was by coach. Coaches were mostly used for group travels. Trains were also popular.
Youth hostelling helped to keep our cost down.
The good thing about Youth Hostels was their locations. They were usually found in the pristine countryside within walking distance from the main roads. They were places where the young people met and exchanged ideas.
The present day breed of youth hostellers are the backpackers.

Dancing away the saturday evenings

Dancing was a social event on most Saturdays unless the hall was reserved for some other activities such as the rehersal of a play.
It was always formal.
It was also very popular. The music came from records.
On occasions, like Christmas, we had life bands

At times we would volunteer to coach the beginners to get into the swing of 'polishing the floor' as it was sometimes referred to.

Looking at the montage of photos you, the reader, might think that we had a really good time. It is true in a sense. Not going anywhere during the holidays would put you among the most unimaginative people ever existed. We had the usual number of summer and winter vacations plus mid-term breaks. We took every opportunity to educated overselves informally
Soon after getting to know the place we settled down for the real stint. Besides lectures we had teaching practices in the local schools. Before long the ones with talents took over the organisation of student activities around the place. We had ballroom dancing, sports, student union activities, drama groups, language learning sessions to name just a few. Some of the more musically minded students provided musical entertainment during the tea breaks.
We had other things to look after such as our own laundry. Much time was spent on communication with parents and loved ones back home. Some spent time and effort to do their own cooking to make up for the bland food that we had to live on. No one complained. We did what we had to do. The one thing everyone did in their spare time was planning for their holidays.

Time well spent during the holidays:
Relaxing in Venice and Youth Hostelling in Southern England

On our way to our first assignment: teaching prac.

It was my first experience and I undertook to teach PE. The lesson was about to start. The students had changed and were waiting for their first command. I blew the whistle to get the attention of the students and called out "Free running go". Guess what happened? They ran and disappeared from sight.
What a disaster! I had to blast the whistle twice to get them back to the yard.
Lesson one: make sure you give the right command 

B.M. High School products:

Mohd Rejab, Bill Dielenberg, and Azis Sultan
Sorry I can't remember the fourt gentleman 

Folk Festival in Northern Wales. Most of these folks have never seen anyone in Cheongsam (worn by Peggy)
It was a very successful trip from Kirkby. 

Our first dance at the first meeting 

First teaching practice in one of the schools in the surrounding region.

One of the questions we were often asked was whether we lived up on trees?
The kids were well behaved and very cooperative. No one experienced any difficult moments. 

Soon after arriving at the college we were told by the seniors to prepare ourselves for a three day ragging session under the pretext of making ourselves known to them. Most of us sumbitted ourselves willingly. We joined in the fun. It acted as a catylist to bring about a more cohesive student body. This picture shows a group of us, juniors, dressed up for the occasion.
Throughout the time of our stay in Kirkby we were a cohesive community not of Malays, Chinese, Indians and others but of Malaysians. There was no discrimination or division among us. Our time in Kirkby will always be remembered as a time of close relationship. We qualified as ambassadors of Malaysia

A mixture of students from the 2nd and 3rd batches on an excursion to one of the factories in the Liverpool area 

Some of the more fortunate students selected for training at the Malaysian Teachers' Training College, Kirkby, England 1953 -- 1955. The total number selected for this batch (the third) was 150.

Left: Peggy with her friend from the same state of Johore
Right: Some of the third batch students before leaving for Kirkby. (Peggy standing in the middle)

This is the map of the Kulim District. Double click to enlarge the map.
I apologise for the poor resolution. It is copied from Google earth 

Left: Claire and Right: Wendy Taken on Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera)
Wendy is now with the Finance Dept. Canberra and Claire is a G.P. practising in Sydney
Me in the middle - Retired School Teacher 

Pak Bill dan Bu Peggy.

Taken at the floriade, Sept 2004 

This is my late brother, James, when he was awarded the medal for distinguished services by
His Royal Highness, The Sultan of Kedah, on the 14th Of Feb, 1999.
He was then the coordinator of Sports for South Kedah.
Before that he was a P.E. teacher at the Malay Secondary School, Kelang Lama, Kulim. The second Youngest in the family.

( James Dielenberg PCK --Pegawai Khas Ko-Kurikulum b.p. Pegawai Pendidikan Daerah Kulim /B Baharu)

Imaging the dim past ... final chapter

The first consideration after form five was to get a job. I had a choice between the police force in Singapore or spend the rest of my life teaching school. I was excited about the first but the family was too persuasive with their tears that I decided to take up part time teacing in my former school as a private school teacher in the interim. One day we had a visit by the Director of Education, Mr Muir, from Alor Star, Kedah. He happened to be in my class as part of his job to observe the work that was done in the school. He told me that I should apply for the Teachers' Training course at Kirkby. The year was 1953. I was selected and was sent to Kirkby that same year for a two year course in education.

What I have done so far is to give the younger generation a glimpse of the past in the best light possible. It was, as it were, a serach for the roots although most of the story was centred on my perspective. Nevertheless it was largely the story of mum and dad, their perseverance and devotion for all my brothers and sisiters.
What happened after 1952 is recent history to be written by others.
I am happy to include some of the pre 1952 stories if people are willing enough to sit down and write what they have to add or subtract.
Bye for now.

Imaging the dim past ---- hindsight
.
Back in those days, we, the siblings, numbered nine in all. Unfortunately one passed away when she was very young. Mum looked after the six of us and the number grew from six to seven and then eight as the children reached school age. We managed with the limited space we had. Mum looked after us well and on hindsight I am proud and full of admiration for her as well as dad. We are grateful and we would like to thank them belatedly, especially mum, for their love, devotion and dedication. We never missed a meal throughout the difficult times. We were well clothed and whenever any opportunity arose we were sent to school to learn and to equip ourselves with knowledge.
Assisting mum was Florence. She turned out to be a good cook as well as being handy on the sewing machine. Mum had her fair share of free time to visit her friends and to indulge occasionally on her card game called ‘chi kee’. She even managed to travel to Penang on several occassions to visit her adopted sister and family at Dato Kramat.
We all helped with the different household chores such as cutting wood keeping the yard clean making the beds, sweeping the house, etc. Bailing water from the well was a my main job.
The yard was our play area. Since we were not far from the school we would go there for games such as football or badminton.
Actually before we moved to the coconut grove we lived right opposite St Patrick School. The house was small and rested on stilts. I remember clearly what happened to me one day when I stepped on a four inch nail. I was in severe pain. When mum discovered what had happened she decided to make sure I would not contract tetanus. She got a neighbour , an Indian lady, to hold me down and she poured hot boiling oil on to the wound. You can imagine how painful it was and I yelled and screamed. I was fourteen then.
Next door to the house was a tobacco factory and we used to work part time in the afternoon to tear off the veins of the tobacco leaves for the rolling of cigars.
We loved Koey Teow (fried rice noodle). There was a stall in front of the cinema in town that produced the best fried noodle . We would ask the girl in charge to fry koey teow with the egg we had brought with us and to make sure it was done with lots of chilly. I still love the taste of it.
We loved cowboy films. Allan Ladd and John Wayne were my favourite stars. We enjoyed going to the movies and we would queue at the door of the cinema and as soon as the lights dimmed we would pass a twenty cent coin on to the ticket collector’s hand and slip into the dark hall to enjoy the show. All we wanted to see was the main feature , we didn’t bother much with the coming attractions and when the show started the whole audience would cheer and clap their hands in great excitement. During a fight we would cheer for the good guy to win. It was good fun .
Another favourite of mine was Tarzan. ‘Me Tarzan you Jane‘. I would repeat to myself.
I could drive at sixteen. Learnt it from a school buddy who was about my age. We used to go out in his van to install electrical wires in homes in the weekends. His older brother owned an electrical store. I remember helping him to wire part of an old cinema at Lunas about five miles (8km ) away from Kulim.
We had a few close friends. On one occasion we went to Taiping, Perak, for a short break. The next morning we attended mass at the local church. At collection time I dropped all the money I had in my pocket into the collection box and soon realized I had no money left to travel home. I was quite depressed. While walking along a street we met someone who happened to be on his way back to Kulim . He agreed to take me home after hearing my plight. Thus my so called generous deed was well rewarded.
My brother and I did well at school. I had two double promotions. Since St. Patrick’s did not have a form five I had to travel daily by bus to attend school at Bukit Mertajam. 1951 was the year I prepared myself for my Oversea’s School Certificate Examination. That same year I won a scholarship of 100 ringgit From the Penang Eurasian Association. I used that for traveling to Singapore for a holiday with mum and her relatives.

Imaging the dim past --- post war years

It was 1947 when we finally settled in Kulim. Life became normal again. We moved into a free standing, three bedroom, attap roofed, heavily weathered clapboard house set in a coconut grove not far from the town centre. The only source of water supply was a shallow well located in the kitchen area. The tiny room adjacent to the well was a bathroom. The huge clay jar used for storing water was filled several times a day by scooping the water from the well and emptying the content into it.
A bucket type dunny was located some distance outside the house. Moving in and out of the facility was in full view of the neighbors and passersby. We were young and we didn’t know what it was to feel embarrassed. We did not have any choice.
Electricity was the main source of lighting. The only complaint we had about the house was that the walls partitioning the rooms were not sound proof. A broad platform in the first room acted as a bed for the whole family. The second room had an iron bed with a pandanus mat placed over the wooden boards to smooth out the joints. The third bedroom belonged to the owner who was well over seventy years of age and looking very healthy.
A year or two later we had a radio which provided the main entertainment.
The half a dozen houses in the grove were placed haphazardly and the path that ran through the area was actually a winding bicycle track. Every now and then we could hear a thud and that reminded us that a coconut had dropped. Some of the palms were kept specifically for producing toddy, a potent intoxicating drink. It tasted sweet and made a pleasant drink when undiluted.
We remained in this house for approximately eight years. Time sped along silently Meantime dad lived and worked in Badenock Estate and we visited him during the holidays. Our first visit brought the two halves of the family together. That was the first time I was ever introduced to my half brothers, Teddy and Francis, who were then aged about five and three respectively. We got along well.
We joined St Patrick’s School which was under the management of the De La Salle Brothers. I was admitted to standard three at 14 years of age. Gilbert joined standard two. Florence was in the private section which functioned in the afternoon. My school leaving report stated that I did not partake in any sporting activities ( in actual fact the school did not provide any such activities). I was a patrol leader in the scout movement and I was also a prefect. I left the school in 1951. I had spent a total of three and a half years in the primary and three years in the secondary. I left St Pats to join B.M High School to do my Overseas School Certificate which I completed with a 2nd grade in 1952.
.