The Star

27 May 2008

Some Radio RAAF Butterworth Nostalgia

The Star

29 March 2007

School for RMAF Officers

NESTLED in the residential area of Tanjung Bungah, Penang, the Sekolah Ikhtisas Tentera Udara Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Air Force training school for professionals) is surrounded by greenery.

Thus, the school provides a conducive environment for training purposes.

Set up in 1993 as a training institution for RMAF officers, the school sits on a 1.2ha site in Jalan Azyze in Tanjung Bungah.

Dubbed as a training centre for trainers, the school provides high quality courses to enable them to carry out classes conducted by the forces. It provides courses ranging from five days to three months on Training Needs Analysis Design, Training Development, Training Administrator and Training Evaluation.

Head of school Mejar Khairron Anuar M. Jamil said the school was set up to upgrade training manage-ment and support services.

Presently, the school conducts 28 programmes and it has been receiving trainees from countries in the Middle-East, Africa and other Asian countries.

Mejar Khairron said he plans to upgrade the school to project a re-sort-like environment.

“The facilities here need improvement, especially the accommodation for international students.

“I hope in future the school will fully achieve international status,” he said in a recent interview.

The school was formerly a build-ing occupied by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It was refurbished to suit RMAF's purpose.

The school has five blocks, for-merly meant for holding classes for the RAAF school children.

It was originally built in 1953.

The school receives scores of visi-tors, especially the former Australian pupils.

Mejar Khairrun said former pupils with nostalgic feelings were allowed to visit the school.

Radio 3AW

Early July 2002

Ernie Sigley, host of the 3AW Afternoon Show in Melbourne, interviewed Ross Bradley live on radio regarding the article on Schoolfriends in The Age.

Ross found the Schoolfriends site via this one, which resulted in a happy reunion with his school friend Juliette Meade. (See the Age article above "Caught in Nostalgia's Net). It makes a special and heart-warming story and one we never tire of hearing - that of schoolfriends reuniting after many, many years.

the age

4 July 2002

Caught in Nostalgia's Net

An article published in The Age newspaper in 2002. Mostly about schoolfriends.com.au, but makes interesting reading, and at least two friends found each other there, via the link from raafschoolpenang.com.. Open PDF file.

The Star

21 October, 2010

A trip down memory lane. Reporting the Penang Reunion.

AFTER nearly *26 years, 300 former students of the Royal Australian Air Force School Penang returned to the island to reminisce and reflect on the fond memories, visit their old homes, hangouts, as well as tourist spots.

They stayed at the Bayview Beach Resort Penang for a week until Oct 2 for the reunion.

The group went around the island to visit their old homes in several areas such as Tanjung Bungah and Tanjong Tokong and tourist spots such as Kek Lok Si, the Sleeping Buddha and Fort Cornwallis and many said they “had not changed much”.

The RAAF school on Penang Island (located in Jalan Aziz, Tanjung Bungah) functioned as a pre-school, primary and secondary school for dependants of Royal Australian Air Force personnel deployed in Butterworth from 1962 to 1988.

On their last night in Penang, a dinner was held at the hotel for them to bid farewell to the island they once called home.

One of them, Kirrily Welsh who lived in Butterworth from 1982 to 1984, recalled her fond memory of having to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the bus to school.

“I lived in Robina Park so I was one of the unlucky ones who had to get up at 6am to catch the bus to school. The trip included a 20-minute ferry ride. I remember there were three buses that went from Butterworth. There was always a friendly rivalry to get on the ferry in the middle aisle and have the other two buses either side of you,” recalled Welsch, 42.

Another participant, Todd Wells, who hails from Brisbane, said coming back to Penang was like a homecoming for him. He was eight years old when he started at the RAAF school in 1980.

“It is so good to see each other again after all these years and to know that Penang is still as beautiful as ever with all the glorious food and places to go and all of us hope to come back again real soon,” said Wells, whose father was an aircraft engineer with the RAAF stationed in Butterworth from 1976 to 1984.

*26 years for some - but for most of us, it was more like 40 years. Cynthia

 

Air Force News Magazine

4 July 2002

An excellent article about this site and the RAAF School was written by ex RAAF School student and now Flying Officer with The Defence Legal Service in Canberra, John Magro.

Published in Air Force News of 4 July 2002, it would hopefully have generated some interest amongst RAAF employees and their families.

A copy of the article is reproduced here, by permission of the author.  

 

YouTube

I'll place links to any YouTube videos I come across here. I have not requested permission to post these, but as they are already in the public domain don't think there would be a problem. If there is, I welcome feedback.

Also check out the new RAAF School channel. If you have any videos to contribute, please get in touch. Thank you.

RAAF School (Reunion) Visit

September 2005

A wonderful record of our visit to Penang and the school - with accompanying music to bring tears to your eyes.

Malaysia 1

by TheWobygong

Great footage of the school and annexe buildings - buses, students and more. Memories!
(look for other postings on Malaysia and Penang by TheWobygong)

Penang 1982

by 555Gumby
(Located by Kevin Cragg)