Reminiscing Stories of Past

By Neil Riley, Alumnus 1962 - 1966

I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Alice Smith in the summer last year after an absence of 53 years! (I didn’t have a sick note from my mum either!) Having liaised with the KLASSics team for a few weeks, I was delighted to be greeted warmly by the KLASSics team who treated me to a nostalgic tour of Alice Smith School past and present. I last visited KL, on holiday from boarding school, in 1967.

The amount of effort that is going into filling in the gaps in the school’s history is fantastic. Unfortunately for myself and my three brothers, Richard, Philip and Ian, there are no photographs of our classes at present in the school’s archives. We were, collectively, there between 1962 and 1968. One of my older brothers, Philip, attended the school from 1962 - 1964. My eldest brother went to Bourne School from 1962 - 1964.

The many photographs that my parents had have disappeared over the years, with only a couple remaining. My father, Derek, worked for Dunlop and with my mother, Beryl, we moved from England in 1962. We lived at the flats in Kenny Hill and later at Jalan 5/39 in Petaling Jaya.

I left KL in 1967. I was a student at Alice Smith from 1962 - 1966 and was best friends with Patricia Lee’s son Malcolm during this time. I visited their house many times to play with Malcolm and Graham. Mrs. Lee was always so lovely to me.

I went back to boarding school in England after this whilst my parents stayed in KL with my younger brother Ian, who also attended Alice Smith from 1966 for a couple of years.

The tour of the school, along with photographs from my era stirred wonderful memories and showed what progress the school has made in the years since I attended.

I would love to hear from anyone who might remember me or my brothers and I would encourage anyone who has photographs or memorabilia to upload them or to get in touch with the KLASSics team at the school. There are quite a few students that I remember from then, but unfortunately, they have yet to discover KLASSics.

Note from KLASSics team: If you previously have studied in the same years as Neil and his brothers, it'd be great to hear from you! Reach out to us at klassics@alice-smith.edu.my to get in touch with us and Neil.