In conjunction with its 121st anniversary, former students of Bukit Bintang Girls’ School (BBGS) hope to raise funds for the Elena Cooke Education Fund during their gala dinner come Oct 11.

The anniversary dinner, themed ‘Night of a Thousand Stars’, will be held at The Royale Chulan Hotel and hopes to target for more than 50 tables. Guest-of-honour, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, will grace the occasion.

Set up in memory of the school’s longest-serving headmistress, the late Elena Maud Cooke, fondly referred to as Ms Cooke, the fund hopes to continue her legacy.

Cooke touched many lives over a span of 10 years as a teacher at BBGS, and later as its headmistress for two decades, from 1958 to 1977.  It was under her leadership that the school enrolment grew from 520 to 2,038 by 1977.

The chairperson of BBGS Alumni Berhad (BAB), Moey Yoke Lai, said that the BBGS spirit remains strong among BBGSians in Malaysia and overseas, despite the fact that their school was closed in 2000 and the building subsequently demolished.  

“Through the dinner, we are hoping to raise funds for deserving needy and underprivileged students,” she said. “This is how Ms Cooke also impacted our lives when we were students, growing up under her tutelage. She has left a legacy, which we have turned into our mission of Empowering Today’s Youth for Life.”

The first batch of scholarships was disbursed in 2013 to three students, with another five more students awarded the scholarship this year. “The response from the students was overwhelming,” Moey said.

“This year, we received 149 applications from eager students whose parents earn less than RM50,000 per annum, but all we could give away was to only five most deserving students, leaving the others disappointed, hence the need to raise funds. With more support from the public, more young people will be given that much needed head-start in life.”

The backgrounds of the applicants’ parents were varied; they included a cook, a welder, a labourer, a clerk, a taxi-driver, a coffee-shop worker, a dumper truck driver and a spray mechanic. There were cases in which the parents and siblings were in ill health.

The Elena Cooke Education Fund is operated by the BBGS Alumni Berhad (BAB), a company limited by guarantee. For more information on the dinner, kindly check out www.bbgs.com.my or email [email protected] .

Donations are welcomed from corporate donors and individuals. They can either write a cheque or do an e-bank transfer to the bank account of BBGS Alumni Berhad (Maybank 5141 2316 6380). Donors should inform BAB via [email protected] so that receipts can be issued.