KIRKBY: 1. UPDATE ON LIADE (Low Impact Aerobic Dance
Exercise)
2. THE CLOSING CHAPTER OF
MTTC, KIRKBY
UPDATE
ON LIADE
Since
we started the Aerobic Dance Exercise in January, 2005 the attendance of the
enthusiastic Kirkbyites has been very encouraging.
The regular exercisers, Kirkbyites, specially flown
to Manchester by BOAC ARGANOUT in 1951, 1953 and 1954 are: Muttaiya Ratnasabapathy, Othman Dahlan, Zain, Syed Abu Bakar, Siti Rohani,
Zainal Arshad and his wife,Jane, Neelambigai, Ramlah, Fong Shook Yen, Inom and
her husband, Ahmad Hashim. We hope more Kirkbyites
of all batches will come forward and put their best flexible legs forward to
the accompaniment of tunes of the 60s, 70s, 80s and even 2000s. Louis Cheong (1954
– 1956), the instructor, is delighted to share his dancing experiences with his
fellow Kirkbyites.
Please
note the programme is as follows:
Day: 1st Saturday of every month
Time: 7.30 a.m. - 8.20 a.m.
Place: The Car Park,
Singgahsana Hotel, (the former NPC), Petaling Jaya
Parking: Free parking along the road (FOC)
Breakfast: Two choices: Light (like thosai)
or Buffet. Eat, drink and yarn away.
Objectives
of LIADE
1. This Aerobic Exercise is to further develop
the five components of physical fitness:
cardiovascular
fitness, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and Body
Fat Composition.
2. It is an appropriate time that we Kirkbyites should gather and exercise together, thus
creating an atmosphere of comradeship and fraternity of folks from the same
kampong “Kirkby”
The primary aim is to break the
ice – the “batch barrier.” We are very proud of Kirkby
and want to perpetuate the name of Kirkby, but we
don’t even know our “kampong” neighbours who were
from Kirkby. I
hope this “informal aerobic dance” can bring us together and get to know each
other better.
THE
CLOSING CHAPTER OF MTTC, KIRKBY
I
would like to refer to the article “The Kirkby name
lives on” which appeared in THE STAR on 29 May, 2005.
As
far as the two-year Teacher Training Course is concerned it is true the College
was established in 1951 and closed down in 1961. However, KIRKBY lived on for another two
years after 1960. In January, 1961 a batch of 150 Teacher-Trainers, some of
whom were ex-Kirkbyites, arrived in Kirkby for a One-year Teacher-Trainers’ Course. There they
met the two-year Course Trainees before they completed their course in August
or December, 1961. The Malayan Government sent another batch of
Teacher-Trainers in January, 1962 for a similar course. Some of the former Kirkbyites met their lecturers, Mr. J. Struthers, Maths. Lecturer and Folk Dance Instructor, Miss McBain, P.E. Lecturer, Mr. J. Kennedy, History Lecturer,
Mr. Jones, Geography Lecturer, Mr. Walker, English Lecturer and last but not
least, our Principal, Papa Gurney.
In
December, 1962 we completed our Course and the College was officially closed
down.
On
their return to Malaya these last two batches of Teacher-Trainers were appointed
to hold positions of different capacities.
Some were appointed to be Heads of Lower Secondary Schools and Heads of
Secondary Continuation Schools while others were appointed as Trainers to train
the Teacher-Trainees of these two newly-established schools on week-ends, quite
similar to the Normal-Class Teacher-Trainees’ Course in the ‘50s.
Quite
surprisingly no mention was made at the 50th Anniversary in 2001 to
have their group photograph (Teacher-Trainers of 1962) taken with the 1961
Teacher-Trainers.
To
sum up, MTTC, Kirkby had trained about 1,500 teachers
from 1951 to 1961 and 300 teacher-trainers in two years, 1961 and 1962. Kirkby College was officially closed in December, 1962.
Louis
Cheong (China Kayu of 1954
– 1956 and T.T. of 1962)