Walking by the Town Fountain this afternoon, memories of the place
suddenly flood my mind. I was fortunate to have lived for most of the
time before it was made into a modern icon. In the 50's I used to play
the wooden playground equipments there - see-saw, swings etc.. Used to
pass the place at night after buying things from the wooden shophouse
without fear even as a tiny kid cycling back home to our government
quarters about 200 meters away. In the 60's as a school ki
d
we joined in parades and watch the town's folks play basketball at one
corner of the park. A tiny lucky number of us kids learnt roller
skating on the concrete pavements there, Many concerts, fun fairs and
trade shows were held there too. The place was called King George VI
Memorial Ground back then and was the biggest park the town could afford
in the 60's. Come the 70's when the first boom arrived , the memorial
ground became suddenly very active and full of activities because many
more people sought employment in the growing town. Activities dwindled
in the area in the 80's when more open spaces and parks were developed
outside of the town or in new satellite townships.
Today the place
looks beautiful and serene without its nostalgic busy past. What is busy
today is outside the park with cars endlessly passing around the place.
Please follow this link to see more stories of the place in another blog as in here...>>>
http://bintulub4now.blogspot.com/…/King%20George%20the%20VI…
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| Seen are a group of teachers from SMK Bintulu (previously Bintulu Gov't Secondary School) having a photoshoot during Teacher's Day, 1976. At left of picture is Keppel Road. |
(
Note: The above is a re-post from my FB, 21 May'19)
