Church Weekly for 6 April 2008
My dear readers,
Today we continue with excerpt from "Footprints in the Sands of Time."
Unforgettable Alma Mater
ACS - Anglo-Chinese School! How can I ever forget thee, affectionate "Foster Mother" of mine! The first Chapel Morning, as I filed in to the Assembly Hall with the other boys, my attention was drawn instinctively to the beautiful inscription lining the four walls beneath the ceiling.
"TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART; AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING. IN ALL THY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS" (PROVERBS 3:5 , 6 ).
These words of timeless wisdom and truth have blessed countless thousands of pupils who have passed through the portals of ACS. What better way for six and seven year-olds to begin life than to be instructed early in the ways of God!
To the founding fathers, men like Methodist Bishops Oldham and Thoburn, we owe an irrepayable debt of gratitude for giving us a school which teaches the everlasting inerrant Word of God, that priceless Word which builds Christian character.
As I look back seventy, eighty years to the days of Coleman Street and Canning Rise, my heart swells with pride that I belong to a grand tradition, the ACS family, which has enriched the Singapore scene for over a century.
It was from ACS that I received my 3Rs and the grounding for a strong moral character. The inspirational messages at weekly Chapel Hour, the examples of godly Teachers and the Methodist spirit, have all gone to make the overall ACS experience one priceless gift of life.
From my ACS experience I have gained life-long friends in teachers and classmates, who remain a source of encouragement and inspiration. The teachers who have left a fragrance in the memory are too many to recall by name, but one does not forget Mr Sundram in Standard Two who rewarded honesty with added marks, or Mr Lee Choon Eng who bought me a ten-cent bowl of noodle soup when I fainted from hunger one morning. Such examples would fill many pages if one carefully delves into the dusty memory store.
Robert Browning's poem, "Rabbi Ben Ezra" has given us the ACS motto "The best is yet to be." Generations of Old Boys have been blessed by this catchy watchword, setting their sights high and challenging them to do more and better.
For the sake of readers, here is Browning's First Stanza:
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"
The Alma Mater, by this slogan, has challenged generations of students to strive harder, to reach higher and to do better. That spirit is to "Trust God, see all, and not be afraid."
All Old Boys like me, who had grown up to love the ACS Anthem, never fail to be inspired whenever we sing again those beautiful words by poet Hoisington:
In days of yore from western shores.
Oldham dauntless hero came
And planted a beacon of truth and light
In this Island of the Main.
Here may it stand from year to year
Emblem of grand endeavour.
God save our land and Heaven bless
Our ACS for ever!
Chorus
Sing ACS for evermore
Our ACS forever
God save our land and Heaven bless
Our ACS forever!
How can I ever forget thee, Alma Mater dear? Distance of years only adds enchantment to the memory.
Past generations of Old Boys well remember Mr TW Hinch (Principal 1929 - 1948). He took ACS to new heights of excellence. I had the good fortune of four years of his inspirational principalship, and the extra pleasure of visiting him in his home in Ealing, London, after the War.
Mr Hinch brought to ACS his famous Harrow Football Song "Forty Years On," which we sang on "Founder's Day" each year. At Harrow, England, the song had been immortalised by many illustrious Old Boys, best known among whom was Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain (1940 - 1945) who had led the country to great victory in World War II.
Here is the "Harrow Football Song" (Stanza 1 and Chorus)
Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland and shall bear them along.
Chorus
Follow up! Follow up! Follow up! Follow up! Follow up!
Till the field ring again and again,
With the tramp of the twenty-two men,
Follow up! Follow up!
I sometimes imagine I might "turn the clock back thirty, forty, fifty years" and re-live my boyhood again! Then you might wonder, "Which school will you then go to?"
Need you ask?
ACS, of course! ACS forever!
Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Senior Pastor