The Church of Nativity and CHIJ Punggol

This is the page for the month of December of the ATC Heritage Calendar 2009. It shows 2 photos of the oldest Catholic Church for the Teochews in S'pore's North-East region and the old CHIJ Punggol.
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Chinese: 圣母圣诞堂) is a Catholic church in Singapore. It is located at Upper Serangoon Road in the Hougang Planning Area, within Singapore's North-East Region.
The church was constructed in 1901, and is the oldest Catholic church for the Teochew community in Serangoon.
History
The origins of this Catholic church can be traced to an attap (thatched roof) chapel that was built in 1853 on Upper Serangoon Road, its congregation comprising mainly Teochew farmers living in Serangoon and Punggol. Subsequently, a brick chapel was built in the area and named St Mary's Church. Father Jean Casimir Saleilles, parish priest from 1881 to 1911, was responsible for building the present church in 1901.
Father Saleilles also helped to spread the Catholic faith to Johore. He founded the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (Johor), later renamed the Church of the Immaculate Conception and subsequently designated a cathedral. His good relationship with Sultan Ibrahim of Johor let the Sultan to present the Church in Johor, as well as the Church of the Nativity in Singapore, each a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church of the Nativity's statue still stands in front of the church building.
The Church of the Nativity founded many educational institutions in the region, including the Holy Innocents' High School, Hai Seng Girls' High School (now Hai Sing Catholic School), Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Punggol (now CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity), and Montfort School (now Montfort Junior School and Montfort Secondary School).
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was gazetted as a national monument on 14 January 2005.

St Paul's Church...Upper Serangoon Road

This is the page from the November month of the ATC Heritage Calendar 2009.

The photo shows the Church of St Paul which was built before WW2. In the past, the Social Welfare Department had used this place as a distribution centre for feeding the poor and underprivileged...many of whom were affected by the war.
Church members helped in the distribution of food.

Today, St Paul remains a clear landmark along the main Upper Serangoon Road opposite to Hougang Street 21 junction.

Kew Ong Yah Temple

This is the page from the October month of the ATC Heritage calendar 2009. It shows the Hougang Tao Mu Gong otherwise more commonly known as the Temple of Kew Ong Yah ( the 9th Deity ).
It is situated along Upper Serangoon Road and was established by the late Mr Ong Choo Kee, a businessman.
Devotees normally gather on the morning of the 9th Day of the Lunar month and they will accompany an urn of burning josssticks placed on a special sedan chair. The procession will then proceed to the Whampoa River to welcome the deity. Today that ceremony has shifted to the Serangoon River.
Quite often, a "tangki" or temple medium in a trance -like state will be along too.

Haji Yusoff Mosque

The Masjid Haji Yusoff is located at 2 Hillside Drive off Upper Serangoon Road. It was built in 1921 by philantrophist Ahmad Mohamed Salleh Anguilla who had donated the land and money for its construction. Originally built of wood, it was destroyed in a fire in 1985...and rebuilt subsequently. In 1994 it was demolished and completely rebuilt again...as the photo shows. It serves the needs of Muslims in the area well.

This is the page from the month of September from the ATC Heritage Calendar 2009.

It shows the mosque at its original and present site at Hillside Drive.

The other photo is interesting too..showing a youthful looking trio of Minister S Dhanabalan, Sidek Saniff and our very own MP then..Dr Lau Teik Soon, with the Mosque management.

I wonder when this picture was taken?
Unk Dicko

Xinmin Secondary School

Xinmin Secondary School was very much a part of old Serangoon history. Originally located along Serangoon Road as this vintage photo shows, the building was an easy landmark along the main road.
This page comes from the July page of the ATC 2009 Heritage Calendar.
In the old days, it was known as Sin Min High School. There was also Sin Min Primary School.
Today, the original building has been taken over by the Helping Hands Organisation. The school was founded in 1945 and relocated to its present site in Hougang Avenue 8 in 1990/1991( See map below ).


Looking at the old photo carefully will revive many forgotten memories of what sports and PE were like in those bygone days. Did you notice the girls were all running barefooted?
And that was an official race! You can clearly see the competitor's number tag on them...370, 395 and 51 seemed to be ahead of the others...387 etc.
They were running on everyday cowgrass! No school had tartan tracks yet.

The other new photos ( from Xinmin official website) show the spanking new buildings and facilities in their present location.




What a major contrast...the past and the present.

Today, Xinmin Sec is regarded as a top school ( not just top neighbourhood school ). They have won the highest School Awards given out by the MOE...the School Distinction Award and the School Excellence Award.
The transformation from an ordinary school to one of note has been heralded in the media and press and makes a worthwhile case study.
unk Dicko

Lim Tua Tow Market

This is the page for the month of June
from the ATC calendar 2009...Our Heritage, Our Home.

That is a photo of the old LIM TUA TOW market, definitely one of the most famous of its time...especially in the 60's where there were up to 500 stalls!
There were also many foodstalls ranging from the famous Chye Tow Kueh and the equally famous "original" Hokkien Mee. They were doing so well they sell right into the late night. My family and I ate there often. I still remember that there was a special feature story in the S Times about the "Original" Hokkien Mee...that appeared in the 80's. If I can recollect the main story..it went like this: Sometime in the 1930's, a Hokkien man started frying his special style of mee ( Hokkien mee) and it tasted so good it became an instant hit. He had only one stall located at Upper Bukit Timah area, near Beauty World. After the War, he continued his thriving business with his young stall assistants. However, before he passed away, he had passed on his original Hokkien mee secrets to his faithful assistants. There were 3 of them, plus his own family who knew how to fry it the right way. All the original 3 young Hokkien mee disciples soon started their very own stalls...preparing the the mee the same way their "sifu"(master) had taught them. All 3 continued selling even to the 90's. Where were they located? Those of you who are genuine,die hard Hokkien mee lovers and around my age may know at least 2 of the original disciple:-
1. Used to be located along Serangoon Road, just before Balestier Road/ Lavender Street junction. This "apek" has polio in one leg, and his son assisting him strangely also suffered from
the same problem. I was his long-time customer...since the 60's and gave him the nickname "OPIUM" which stuck. When "apek" died, his son took over. He used charcoal for fire and the "umpeh" leaf for wrapping. There was always a very long queue of luxury cars and an even longer queue of people waiting for his heavenly fare.
2. The 2nd disciple was our very own Lim Tua Tow Hokkien Mee! Some of you may still recall the 'apek"frying in similar style as "Opium", using the same "umpeh" leaf.
3. The 3rd was at Beauty World area.
Why was their Hokkien mee so, so, mouth-watering good?
The secret was in the special stock they prepared and the way they used the wooden cover over
the "kuali". They took their time too despite many customers waiting. And they were very generous with the ingredients...prawn, sotong, pork, garlic, egg, fresh chilli, sambal....
Today's Hokkien mee ...NONE have come close to those original masters!
Where are they today? They seem to have vanished unless someone can tell me differently.

The locals also call this Lim Tua Tow area " 5th Milestone ".

unk Dicko

Vanishing trades, Old Simon Road Market

Here are the two pages for the month of April and May. These old but valuable photographs do really tell of a time and age that was so memorable for many of our older folks.
April Page:
Let us start with the top left picture. Two men, one bare-bodied, were carrying 3 pails each on bamboo poles over their back and shoulder. What do you reckon they were carrying inside the metal containers?
Anyone like to venture a guess? In case you think they are " night -soil" carriers, you think wrong! The night-soil buckets were not shaped like this. All the night-soil buckets had a standard shape and also the night-soil van would have been close by. I wonder if anyone can say which part of Serangoon Road this was.
The centre photo clearly showed the unloading of rubber tyres.

The photo on the right tells a lot. It clearly shows a young man by the side of his tricycle stall selling water chestnut drink. He had both hot and cold drinks. On either side of his stall were 2 old ladies selling an assortment of tobacco, tobacco paper, cigarettes in packets and tins, matches and perhaps some tid-bits. One brand of the tin can be identified...Lucky Strike!

Three cars were partly hidden from view...so can't really tell the make.
Bottom left photo...an old man milking goat. Could be anywhere.

May page:
Hey...this distinctly looks familiar. The giveaway is the bottom left picture. That junction with the traffic lights is the present SIMON Road and Serangoon Road junction. In the days of old we call this location " 6th milestone ". The only coffeeshop at the corner is still the same one as in the photo! Today, it has that popular Hokkien Mee stall that draws a long queue. This wet market was the old SIMON Road market which was also famous for the many " mouth-watering" hawker stalls like muah chee, Hokkien mee, wanton mee, mee-rebus, pigs' trotters, beef kway teow, etc..
Today, that place is no more.
Where did all the famous hawkers go? Surely, some are still carrying on their business elsewhere right? Anyone care to comment?

Unk Dicko

Kampong Houses, Rickshaws & Bullock Carts

Two more pages from the Heritage calendar 2009.

February page:
Typical scene of kampong houses built very close to one another. Today, in our sprawling housing estates many people hardly talk to their neighbours.
Back then, every kampong folk knew even if a stranger wandered into the kampong. People had time for conversations, innocent gossip or just chit-chat after dinner. Children ran around barefooted and played with other kampong kids without a worry and care in the world.
ps: I'm surprised this old photo has such a sharp focus and good resolution. Even the motor-bike number can be seen clearly...SAJ 2381.

March page:

These are two wonderful photos that told so much about our past, not only in Upper Serangoon Road but in old Singapore as a whole.

Bullock carts were carts pulled by a single bull or two bulls. They were used to carry heavy goods, people and stuff. Some from the older generation may remember that Chinatown used to have a " Bullock Cart Water" street.

The local Cantonese equivalent is "Ngau Cheh Sui and in Hokkien "Goo Char Chui ". However, over the years, this term generally refers to Chinatown in South Bridge Road area as a whole and not to any particular street anymore.

Rickshaws were common all over our island in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Once a week, Unk Dicko's late mother will " book" her regular rickshaw for the weekly visit to

the wet market at Lorong 25, Geylang. Then she will make the journey home in the same way.

Sometimes, one of us kids would tag along.

It was not easy at all for the rider. Much hardwork, muscle power and stamina was required and all for a few cents....not even dollars!

Yet, I seem to recall them never complaining at all about their fate but even smiling gleefully.

Those were the days!

Unk Dicko

Aljunied Heritage Calendar 2009

This vintage- looking Calendar that comes with some rare old pictures of our Upper Serangoon area within its pages...should be a collector's item soon.

Produced by the Aljunied Town Council, its real value is not in details of day and month but the nostalgic photos that were chosen for the calendar.

Most of the photos came from contributors to an event held in June and July 2008, at Kovan Heartland Mall and Hougang Central Hub.

I think the event was called "Upper Serangoon Heritage Trail and Exhibition ".

At that time, I was rather busy with my travels and a number of other things and did not get a chance to contribute some of my old pictures, photos and other memorabila of "our kampong".

Will keep them for next time.

In the next few posts, I shall showcase all the 12 months of this beautiful calendar. This is the January month of 2009, the 1st page. The top is the Cover Page of the calendar.

Unk Dicko