My Grandfather's Class

10
Introduction
About this Book
written by Inez Tan Meixuan
originally published in the October 2015 issue of The Rafflesian Times
When Mr Siu Kang Fook’s (RI,
1968) former schoolmates
opened his recent email they were
astonished – looking back at them
from faded photographs were
younger versions of themselves
In the days before digital
databases like the Stamford Portal,
the General Office was home to
stacks of Student Life cards, each
with a student’s passport-sized
photograph, their name, address,
Archives & Museum), opened the
box nearest to the entrance of
the storeroom and found it full of
Student Life cards from the 1960s.
“It was a few months before I found
mine,” he smiled.
who were studying in RI in 1965.
The compilation will take its name
from the ‘grandfather stories’ (i.e.
long-winded tales from days of
yore) shared by the old boys of that
era: My Grandfather’s Class.
and their friends from fifty years
ago. “My goodness I was so tiny
and thin, cannot recognise myself!”
exclaimed Mr Lionel Lee in his
reply. The old boys had submitted
these passport-sized photographs
to the General Office when they
first entered RI, and had never seen
them since.
birthday, nationality and House.
When RI moved to Bishan, these
cards – the profiles of every student
that passed through the portals
of RI from the 1960s to the early
1990s – were packed into more
than forty boxes and kept in a
storeroom. Mr Siu, an alumnus
helping out at the RAM (Raffles
Thus, an idea was born. Mr Siu,
whose previous undertakings
include a book on Scouting in
RI titled To SIR with Love, felt it
was time for a new project that
coincides with Singapore’s 50th
year of independence – an online
yearbook for the 2000 Rafflesians
The Rafflesian, as younger
Rafflesians know it, refers to none
other than the school’s Yearbook.
But back in the 1960s it was really
more of a magazine, with features
on school happenings, studentwritten
articles, lists of student
achievements, and reports on the