Last Wednesday, the quiet and tranquil atmosphere of Granborne Chase in Kirkby was once again broken by the shouts of Merdeka.
Since the unveiling of the plaque two years ago on Aug 31 to mark the place where, on Feb 7, 1956, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj announced the date of the country’s independence to about 300 students of the Malayan Teachers Training College (MTTC), it came as no surprise to the residents there because they are indeed living on a site that is a piece of Malaysia’s history.
It became a shared celebration as some residents came out to share what was told to them by their parents and motorists honked, showing thumbs up to the excited crowd at the old site of the Great Hall of Kirkby College.
The plaque, the pilgrimage by the alma mater of MTTC, and the setting up of an exhibition of “The Malayan Connection” at the Archive Resource for Knowsley, (ARK) Kirkby Centre, would not have come to fruition had it not been for the intervention of fate and perseverance of the president of the MTTC Kirkby Alumni Association, Datuk V.L. Kandan.
“I was on holiday in 2015 with the family and visited Kirkby after 57 years,” said Kandan, who was a student there from 1955 to 1957.
“I saw the Walkers Inn, the newsagent shop but there was no other reminder of our college, particularly the hot water pipes that started right at the railway station and bus stop.
“I asked the present owner about the lady who used to work there, but he didn’t know and as I was leaving, I saw a notice at the window saying the Knowsley Library was writing the history of Kirkby Village, which had become a significant place in the Knowsley area because the MTTC was situated there between 1952 and 1962.
“Anyone with information was asked to contact the library,” he said, reliving the day that started it all.
The family turned up at the library and the ensuing meeting with Lin Rice, the librarian in charge of community history, meant pieces of the jigsaw were soon falling into place, made possible by the Lottery Fund.
“It is an incredible story — not many people in Kirkby knew about this.
“One of the projects that one of my colleagues and I wanted to do was to tell the story of the students of the college.
“When I met Datuk Kandan, I told him about the project that we planned.
“So from that time, it was all systems go,” said Rice about the project that is getting the community involved and the local children informed about the shared history.
Past teachers, their children, and former workers came forward with books, illustrations, and black-and-white pictures and memorabilia from their attics to add to the collection at ARK.
Efforts were already made to identify the Great Hall and a plaque was duly placed to show its significance.
This second pilgrimage was made by eight Kirkbyites as they would like to be known, three of whom were there at the Great Hall to hear the historic announcement.
“The euphoria was indescribable and we were all so very excited,” remembers Kandan of the announcement by the late Tunku after he and his delegation finished their successful negotiations at Lancaster House in London.
Albert Tay and Zauyah Mohd Noor, too, remember the occasion, although they were right at the back of the hall.
Zauyah, now 83, was 19 at that time. She reflected: “Almost every country was waiting for independence.
“And for Malaya, it was unique because there was no bloodshed.
“Tunku had indeed made preparation for the handing over from the colonial powers and one of the things he did was to eradicate illiteracy and promote education.”
This shared history and experience had earned Zauyah some new friends, Ann and Alan Jones, residents of Granborne Chase, whose acquaintance she made during her first trip in 2017.
Zauyah, like other Kirkbyites, brought along her daughter and grandchildren to share with them the start of her teaching journey, thus passing on their experience to the next generation.
She showed them her drawings that were put on display, reflecting her keen interest and skills in drawing.
Taking the bus to and from campus gave her the inspiration to draw; a Teddy boy waiting outside the door for his girlfriend, friends in the library and many more.
The grandchildren were also most interested in the story of their grandfather, Mohd Noor, who was first a sailor and then a Kirkbyite who was among 12 MTTC students featured as extras in the movie A Town Like Alice.
For Thilagavathy Kanasabai from year 1959 to 1960, this second visit to Kirkby was especially important as she celebrated her 80th birthday with her son, Dr Mohana Shanmugam, and old friends.
“I came when I was 18 and perhaps because I had shown a great passion for teaching during the interview, I was given the opportunity to come here.
“I enjoyed the teaching experience in local schools around here. The locals were truly impressed by our concerts, especially the Malayan Medley that we performed, displaying the cultures of the Malays, Chinese and Indian communities,” she reflected.
The journey to what was once the Kirkby campus was especially important and poignant for Alex Swan, the son of Datuk Yunus Raiss, a Kirkbyite, who passed away recently.
He listened to the tribute to his father read by Kandan and he later read excerpts of a poem Kirkby — A Many Splendoured Thing written by Yunus, who had actually planned to visit Kirkby on this occasion.
“What was incredible about this is, it brings all so much life — seeing the same steps that my Dad would have taken and looking at all the wonderful photographs and memorabilia that are kept, snapshots in time — it allows me, in 2019, to look back at how it must have been for my Dad in 1954 to come to Liverpool and it gives an insight into a significant piece of our history. It is incredible,” said Alex, who was given an even more special surprise when the couple he was sitting with during dinner, Gina and Albert Tay, produced old black and white photographs of his father.
Yunus was in the picture, with his friends, Ridzuan Ali and Albert Tay and two Belgian brothers, when they were travelling in Germany.
While Albert told Alex about his friendship with his father, his wife, Gina, told about the session on English as a Foreign Language she had had with Yunus.
It was another euphoric and immensely memorable day for all.
It was a day when memories came flooding back, especially for Ho Chee Eng and his wife, Goh Ching Chin, who met and fell in love while on campus.
“We both came from Batu Pahat, but we didn’t know each other before that.
“But when Chee Eng was taken ill with mumps and was in the sickbay, I wrote to him every day to tell him about the developments in the college.
“I visited him because we were from the same hometown,” recalled Ching Chin about the friendship that led to their marriage in 1963.
Ho then recalled the walks in Kirkby Woods where love blossomed.
Kampong Kirkby will certainly live on in the minds of these Kirkbyites although the former World War 2 amunition barracks that became their home are no longer there.
“It is our Camelot — there was once a spot where happiness and everything that was good for us and that spot is Kirkby and that is our Camelot,” said Kandan.
And so it shall be.
Also to celebrate the day with the Kirkbyites were the sailor community from Liverpool who brought with them not only flags but also Malay kuih.
Md Nor Hamid, 86, arrived in Liverpool in 1952 and indeed remembers meeting some Kirkbyites and took them sightseeing and out for a meal.
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