THE hairlines were a little higher and the bottoms a little wider.

But for the 160 energetic schoolmates who turned up at Catholic Junior College's (CJC) Performing Arts Centre at 7pm on 15 Jan, it was back to school.

The pioneer batch of students, who graduated in 1976, gathered to celebrate their 50th birthdays.

Most had not seen each other for 30 years despite a CJC 30th anniversary gathering in November 2005, which combined three batches for a reunion.

Ms Pauline Goh, an organiser, recalls that she had many requests from her former schoolmates asking her to pre-print sticker name tags, in case they could not recognise each other.

'You know, less at the top and more portly at the bottom,' Ms Goh joked good-naturedly.

However, those fears were unfounded. The majority of them immediately recognised each other and hit it off right away.

SMALL GATHERING

The idea was hatched last October when an alumnus visiting from New Zealand, Ms Moira Lee, contacted Ms Goh and Mr Leong Kok Fann.

They had originally intended to plan a small gathering.

However, the e-mails sent out ended up being forwarded to over 200 former batch-mates. The overwhelming response then prompted the pair to organise the combined birthday party.

Fifteen alumni even travelled from their homes in the US and UK just to attend the memorable event.

'There was a lot of hugging and slapping of backs,' Ms Goh recalled fondly.

She added: 'I even had difficulty piping down the excitedly chattering batch to listen to the performances.'

The resourceful pair had engaged performances by fellow alumni, Theodore Chan and Joseph Wong, from the band Tjammers, and acapella group Budak Pantai, respectively.

A Thai buffet was also catered for by alumnus Anthony Wong of Createries.

The attendees paid $45 to cover costs but raised an additional $51,000 for CJC's needy students' fund. The generous donor of $10,000 chose to remain anonymous.

She explained that the pioneer batch shared unique experiences that blessed them with a closer bond.

Many facilities were still under construction when the batch was sent to CJC from different holding schools around March 1975.

Ms Goh reminisced: 'Since the canteen was not ready, we all had to sit together and eat bah pau (pork buns) every day.'

One lasting relationship was that of medical doctors John Lee and Priscilla Lim, who first met in CJC and eventually married each other.

The couple have eight children aged 9 to 22. Their son, Gabriel, 17, is currently studying in CJC while their daughter, Desiree, 16, aspires to go there too.

'We do talk to our kids about CJC with fondness. It's where we grew up,' Dr Lee said.

Brother Paul Rogers, the current principal of CJC, was an invited guest. Impressed, he e-mailed Ms Goh after the event.

She quoted from his email: 'There was joy on everyone's faces as they raced around to meet up with everyone they could. That atmosphere? Money cannot buy.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Jan 30, 2008