Curator's Tour of From the Stacks: Highlights of the National Library

This June holiday, I was privileged to receive a Media Invite to a special curator's tour of the ongoing National Library exhibition "From the Stacks: Highlights of the National Library" which showcases highlights of its Rare Materials Collection dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries that are normally off limits for public viewing.

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Relaunch of Old Catholic High School Building (222 Queen Street & 51 Waterloo Street)

From its sprawling seven-hectare campus in Bishan which housed both primary and secondary sections since 1992, one could not have imagined Catholic High School's more humbled beginnings in town from 1935 when French missionary Reverend Father Edward Becheras started "Sino-English School" as an extension of the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Rapid expansion saw a new three-storied building block erected on the church grounds in 1936, one that would become the familiar face of Catholic High School at 222 Queen Street for more than 50 years. On 21 May 2016, I was honored to be invited by 222 Queen + 51 Waterloo to witness the relaunch of the Old Catholic High School building on its 80th anniversary celebration.

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HeritageFest 2016: Former Command House @ Kheam Hock Road

One year after SG50, heritage events feel so muted that they are becoming like a non-event, in contrast with the myraid of activities rolled out to celebrate Singapore's jubilee in 2015. By coincidence I chanced upon the HeritageFest 2016 festival guide at the branch library, picked a copy expecting to find mass free admission to our museums and disappointed when there is none, glanced through the rest of the booklet and found out the open house event for "Former Command House". It was a rare opportunity, one too good to pass up.

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Media Preview - Commonwealth & Holland Village Heritage Tour by My Community (Part 2)

This is a continuation of Part 1.

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Media Preview - Commonwealth & Holland Village Heritage Tour by My Community (Part 1)

Having accepted the invite to the media preview of the new heritage tour by My Community, I made my way to Holland Village MRT Station on a Sunday morning to catch the group of "media folks" assembling at 8.15am for the tour. As a first-time participant of their heritage tour, I was given a copy of their "My Queenstown Heritage Trail" booklet which I'm told would be revised soon. By the way you can download the booklet and other publications on My Community's page. All participants were handed bottled water. While the tour took place mostly within sight of civilization housing estates, I'm glad for this bottle even though I brought my own, for it served me well in the arduous journey ahead. Like they say, save the best for the last.

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Commonwealth & Holland Village Heritage Tour by My Community

To continue from my previous post, I'm pleased to make the acquaintance of Kwek Li Yong from My Community when he invited me to the media preview of the Commonwealth and Holland Village guided tour that will be launched in April 2016. The tour covers the following heritage sites:

1. Chip Bee Gardens
2. Holland Village
3. Former Eng Wah Theatres
4. Former Kampong Holland Mosque
5. Holland Drive Neighbourhood Centre
6. Shuang Long Shan Wu Shu Memorial Hall
7. Queenstown Lutheran Church
8. Commonwealth Crescent Neighbourhood Centre
9. The First Flatted Factory
10. MOE Heritage Centre
11. Block 85 & 86 Commonwealth Close
12. The VIP Block
13. Former Baharuddin Vocational Institute
14. Ridout Tea Garden
15. 23 Ridout Road, 2 Pierce Drive, India House

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Friends of My Community

I have been invited by Kwek Li Yong to the media preview of Commonwealth & Holland Village heritage tour on 20 March 2016. Before I pen down my experience, let me briefly introduce Li Yong and his heritage group My Community; and also put a blurb on their volunteer programme.

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First post in 2016

Hello, I'm back!

After a long hiatus of 2 years 2 months, decided to revive Second Shot and resume blogging and second shot photography.

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Days of Rage - Nadra

Last Sunday I was having dinner halfway when she interrupted me from the TV, "look it is Maria, the Dutch girl". Channel NewsAsia was premiering Episode 1 of Days of Rage which was on the Maria Hertogh riot.

What a coincidence! You see, I had with me two library books on the topic that day and the riot, which we have studied in "national education" and history lessons, happens to be my research interest recently. In fact I had contemplated to bring with me one of the books to Indonesia when we pulang kampung but decided not to. Both books are thick, unlike the typical paperback for holiday reading. In any event I finished both books - The Nadra Tragedy by Haja Maideen and Natrah by Fatini Yaacob - after I returned to Singapore.

PS: Episode 1 on the Maria Hertogh riot can be viewed from the official site.

A Mini National Theatre at Tank Road

I read on Facebook that Prof Lai had dug into his pockets to put up an installation for the Singapore Biennale 2013, a chibi version of the National Theatre demolished some years ago. When it was first announced and photos up, the exact location was not specified; photos showed a "clean surrounding" (park in the foreground, condo in the background), quite unlike the construction ongoing at Fort Canning station, the old location of the National Theatre and where I thought the installation would be.

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2nd Shot: Yu Shan Teng at Holland Road

Chun See's comment - "I also remember seeing Lor Makam and an old temple there in the late 80s when I jogged and drove along (old) Holland Rd" - in his blog on Lorong Panchar reminds me of a second shot taken in late 2011 when I was exploring the area mentioned.

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An Accidental Second Shot at Punggol Point

I made my way to Punggol Point again, the second time in a few months. The first time I was in a car driven by a friend, and was shocked to find out "progress" had encroached upon what had been a rustic beach from   old photos. The stopover of 20 minutes or so was enough for me to gauge the extent of the redevelopment. Thankfully not everything is man-made; I could still find pockets of nature, views that would not have changed much from the Old Punggol. At the boardwalk, the landform of Ubin loomed large ahead, a picturesque setting too good for my camera to miss. I did not know it then, till I was looking for old Punggol photos on the internet, that I had just taken an accidental second shot!

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Lorong Cheng Lim - Roots of Dr Koh Poh Koon in Punggol

The weekend following Nomination Day on 16 Jan, we made our way to Sengkang and went around the housing estate in style - in a LRT, our first ride on the Sengkang LRT Line. Only the West Loop, i.e. half of the estate, was completed due to time constraint but still this did not stop me from alighting at one station opened for passenger service only this year. At Cheng Lim Station, located in a part of Sengkang still developing, the view to the north was surprisingly rural. As I stared at the platform signboard with the background in blur, my mind began to wander; and there and then, I wondered where was the PAP candidate's roots in Punggol.

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Pearl's Hill Barracks - Our Latest Historic Site

My workplace at Si Pai Por is like a radial node that connects me to some of the oldest part of town. Just that day I was making preparation for another lunchtime expedition when I came across a Dec 2012 news on the announcement of a new historic site in Chinatown. A new historic site in the old part of town?

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A Very Short History of Plaza Singapura

Last weekend we made a special trip to Plaza Singapura to check out its recently completed wing which I came to know from a friend's Facebook update. We met up with her friends over lunch, and I was introduced to the Swedish husband of her friend. A short tour of the new wing ensued ... so it is a small extension after all. I was more excited to head to the basement to check out the fate of the Carrefour shop space in the post-Carrefour era. A store I had forgotten the location if not for her reminder (hmm, I didn't realize all the while Carrefour was so near the entrance). For those with similar concerns, you can see from the photo Cold Storage is taking over the space.

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Gunung Pulai from Singapore Again

With a dormant blog like this, I do not expect to receive many comments or emails from readers, if at all. Therefore you can imagine my surprise when one reader Timothy emailed me a photo (above) of a mountain taken in Choa Chu Kang from his iPhone. The familiar plateau towering and basking in the background sunset, it is our old friend I have blogged about in the past (here, here and here).

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2nd Shot: The Basketball Star of Singapore

The PM National Day Rally is typically where and when stars aka role models are born literally over an evening from the stage of University Cultural Centre at NUS. For this year's rally the PM listed out, as usual, the folks across the various demographic groups who would become our role models. What's unusual is the role model for active ageing whom the PM met after one of his constituency events. From her age and hobby-mismatch witnessed by the PM that day, I guess she must have left a deep impression in him.

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The Inaugural Tiger Flight out of Terminal 2

History is made on the morning of 25 September 2012 as the inaugural Tiger flight made its way out of Changi Terminal 2. Four hours before an arrival flight at Changi Budget Terminal saw the disembarkation of the last group of passengers to have used the airport and with their clearing of immigration and collection of luggage, the curtains finally came down drawing the era of our no-frills terminal to a close.

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Where the Canal and River Meet

While I blog about geographical heritage, I do not usually pay much attention to the nature heritage around us. This has not changed much since 2009 when I failed to find the nutmeg trees in the Istana (what to do, without an identification guide, this city boy still can't). Few weeks ago however, this interesting sight of a transition between the man-made and the natural, where the canal meets the river, caught my attention.

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"Postcards From the Past" Memory Project

No, I'm not showcasing postcards from the past. Today I received an email from Isabel Ong of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) informing us the collective memory project they are currently running. Wait a minute, why is the environment and water ministry also running a memory project when they should be tackling once-in-50-years floods?

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