Bukit Ho Swee - 1969 - 1976

When the common toilet blocks were demolished we were relocated to a nearby one room block 13. Address was 557-D. The left photograph by NHB showed the block at the left side. The right photograph showed the activities on the ground level and the nearby Beo Crescent flats which still exist today.

Compared to 281-C, the new unit had its own toilet!!! There were thriving food stalls on the ground level. Nothing changed as the people living there were still poor and had low income. There were gang activities. However, the gangsters seldom disturb you once they know you were living there.

The most popular schools were Bukit Ho Swee Secondary and Tiong Bahru Secondary. However, I had to travel far to attend Tanglin Integrated Secondary Technical School at Tanglin Halt. Every morning I would walk out to take the bus to school. That bus stop is still located at the same place after 30 years ie across the road from Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Bukit Ho Swee - one room flat 1963 - 1969

Mr Lee Kuan Yew officiated in the opening ceremony of Bukit Ho Swee housing Estate in 1961. The block which I stayed is visible in these two photographs from NHB

When my father died in 1963, my widowed mother could not afford the 3-room Margaret Drive flat. With my three brothers, we moved into 281-C Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, which was single room flat. These flats were built for the victims of the Bukit Ho Swee fire.

The common corridor ran through two rows of units, like those found in the rental flats at Bukit Merah today. The common toilets were located in the middle of the block at every level. There were about 10 toilets at each level. The hygiene then was atrocious. There was no one to clean the toilets daily. I would usually bring my pail of water along to flush the floor of the toilet first before using it, not daring to breathe much.

Daily we could hear squabbles in adjacent units, usually over money matters. At times, there were suicides. The worst was when one of the resident hung himself in the toilet. You would never see me using that particular toilet or going there at night. I would rather use the poo container indoor.

My unit faced the more prosperous Tiong Bahru SIT flats and I used to envy them from my kitchen window (right)

There were some families who tried to make ends meet by selling cigarettes. There was a nice lady who operated a barber shop on the ground floor. Another family was selling ricksaw noodles from the ground level flat.

We stayed there for about three years before those blocks were demolished.

Birkhall Road Primary School - 1960 - 1965

Old Black & White photos from NHB

While researching for my old primary school, Birkhall Road Primary, I came across the above pictures which showed the police clearing illegal stalls around that Margaret Drive area. The school was the building where you could see the scaffolding. Nw, when you go there, it was replaced. The school was closed and combined with Queenstown Primary.

In the 1960s, I remembered the stripped blue shirt and dark blue pants we wore compared to the brown ones of Queenstown Primary, separated by a big field. We Birkhallians used to have stone battles with the Queenstownians. Across the road, there was the monkey-donkey school namely Margaret Drive Primary. It is now been used as a school for the mentally challenged.

From Primary 1 to 3, I walked home to my Margaret Drive home nearby. Later on when I moved to Bukit Ho Swee, I would have to walk across Dawson estate to Alexandra Road to take a bus home. Along the way, I would have to cross a bridge across Alexandra Canal. There was a stall selling tikam tikam and unfailingly I would put my money down.

Birkhall Road Primary School had a big field. 'Kamtam' bola was our favourite game and we would roll on the tall grass of the unkept part of the field. I remembered a class mate by the nme of Kum Chuen who would ran the fastest and throw the hardest with the round hard ball.

In Primary 1 & 2, I was one of the pawns for two love-stuck teachers in the school. I was asked by my male form teacher to bring notes to a lady teacher!!

I alwyas remember the Principal who was Mrs Lucy Low who had a beautiful cursive signature that adorned our report books.

The picture on the right showed the 2-storey houses that were around the Margaret Drive area, opposite where the old Hua Yi Govt High is. Sadly, now, you see only empty areas, ready for new blocks of condos.

Margaret Drive flat 1959 - 1963

Old Black & White photographs from NHB - the glory days when the Polyclinic was officially opened

In late 50s, my family, namely, my parents, two younger brothers and me moved to a new 3-room flat at 242-A, Margaret Drive. It was a 4-story building. The house had a verandah which we avoided esp when the fourth storey neighbour shot 'bullets' at us with his catapult. It also saw the birth of television. My brothers and I had to crowd into the verandah of our ground floor neighbour to watch 'Lassie'. The house was big esp the bathroom.

This very spot was where my house was built

There was a building behind which was abandoned as it was sinking, being built too near to the Alexandra canal.
There was a great playmate by the name of Edward. He was dumb and we communicated using sign languages. His brother was Philip and they stayed in the next block. The last I saw him was when we moved out in 1963 just after my father passed away due to tubercolosis.

Picture taken in 1959/60 at the Margaret Drive market
The brickwall is still standing today.

When I returned to shop at NTUC Margaret Drive, it brought back those memories as 242-A was on the exact spot where the cinema building is now. I also remembered looking out for my father who would alight at the bus stop near the present Margaret Drive library. He always carry the day's newspaper, rolled.

Now, Margaret Drive is changing rapidly. The old market is gone though the building remained. The two-storey shop houses were gone.

The pictures above showed the opening ceremony of the Queenstown Polyclinic and the blocks behind it. This view is EXACTLY the one which I would see looking from my old Margaret Drive house!!!

View towards Polyclinic (circa August 2008)

The abandoned Polyclinic as it is in August 2008

Very soon, the Polyclinic would be torn down for the new development of Margaret Drive. Sad happening that is very frequent in Singapore. One day here, next day gone.    

Similarly, the cinemas will go too after their glory days in the 80s.

Silat Road flat 1953 - 1959

The wide and long staircase The back side of the flat where the kitchen is

The Silat Flats as they were in - 2008

The low wooden windows are still in existence

Black and White photograph was from NHB Singapore. It showed part of the Silat Walk flat.

According to my birth certificate, my first home was 13F Silat Road. In my search I could not find any old photograph of this block of flat except the one above which suspiciously looked like it. I remembered the carefree childhood days in this area, cycling around the blocks and stooping down to avoid hitting the open windows of the ground floor flat. There were some one-story shops. The block was directly across the road to the old Zhangde Primary School.

Block 149 is at the very site where my old house was

At that time, in the 1950s, there was no Jln Bukit Merah. Instead, it was a mudtrack running towards a kampong and a market, where the present Bukit Merah Food Centre is. I think it was called Si Kar Teng.

I remembered the big rooms, hall, kitchen and the two bathrooms. When going downstairs, I would jump down the flight of stairs. My paternal grandparents, 3 uncles and 5 aunties lived under the same roof with us. At night, my aunties would bring stools along to the open-air cinema near the railway track. I also remembered watching the glowing skies over the hills of the SGH area when the Bukit Ho Swee squater kampong caught fire.

At present, only a few of these old SIT flat remained. These blocks are shown above.

 View of Silat Road area towards Kg Bahru Road  in the 1950s

My late father riding a bicycle along the Silat SIT block where we stayed.

Demolition of the remaining old SIT flats in 2014 and 2015

Left : 2014   Right : 2015

What was left of the place after the demolition, history

RI Soccer - Ortega Cup 2008

I missed this year's game again as I have booked my holidays ticket. It is always an experience to meet up with all the old RI soccer 'boys' again after 30 years. They still gave the same respect to those former teachers like Alfred Chen and Seetoh Mun Chap who dropped by to watch this yearly soccer meeting with SJI, even though some of them are of come standing in the local community now.
I am so glad that ORA began the Suhaimi Ali Cup for the U16. I remembered the late Suhaimi as a humble, shy and quietly determined person who spent hours training the U16 and U18 RI soccer team in the early 80s. His younger brother, Juraimi also captained RI soccer team. My earlier blog had a picture of him with the victorious U18 team. He need not shout but command immediate respect from the boys with his earnest voice. Even in victory, I remembered the boys had to look for him and dragged him forward to lift the Cup. I guessed he believed that the boys deserved all the accolades and should enjoy the limelight. Very quickly, he would quickly moved into the shade again. A great man. RIP

Bukit Ho Swee memories

Memories of Bukit Ho Swee

It was in 1963 and I was 10 years old when my father died. My mum with her 4 boys had to relocate from a 3 room SIT flat at Margaret Drive to Bukit Ho Swee. It was Block 5, 281C, Jln Bukit Ho Swee near to the present SEAB Building ( formerly Bk Ho Swee Primary School). We spent about 2 years there. My deepest memory of this block was its common toilet and the stories about suicides being committed there by desperate people (rumours of poverty abound) so much so that I would not dare to go there at night, no matter how urgent I felt in my bowels. I would just do it on a newspaper, wrapped it and then threw into the common dustbin at the other end of the dark corridor, flanked by units.
The toilets, cubicles of about 5 facing each other, were in the middle of the block. There was one set for every level. The floor, of course, was slimy because washing it was an individual matter. We have to bring our own water into the toilet and I remembered pouring some around the toilet basin before using it. Fortunately it was the squat type.
The news of someone hanging himself or herself in one of those cubicles would bring chills to us young boys. On the way out of the house in the early morning when it was quiet, I would walk very briskly and then jumped the steps to hurry.
Surprisingly, there were entrepreneurs within the block itself. My neighbour would sell cigarettes at the staircase landing. At the ground floor, someone would sell ricksaw noodles. Then we had a nice lady barber at the ground floor as well.
I think there were about 4 of such blocks. We could overlook the richer SIT 4-storey blocks near to Tiong Bahru but it couldn’t hide the plight of those who lived in these 6-storey blocks.
Then in 1965/66 we were told to move as HDB wanted to demolish them, so we were relocated to Blk 13, 557-D which was very near the present Tiong Bahru Plaza. It was much better as we have our own toilet now. Still the neighbourhood was as tough as it could be. Many unemployed and thug looking characters around but generally they did not disturb us, knowing we were just as poor. Most of our neighbours would go to Bukit Ho Swee Secondary (now SEAB) or Tiong Bahru Secondary (now where Gan Eng Seng Secondary is located) with its unique lime greenish pants/skirt and white shirt/blouse.
The blocks were all gone. New HDB flats and condominium are being built. When one returned to the area, only the blocks at Taman Ho Swee and Beo Crescent would give me the sense of nostalgia about the place which I grew up.
I wish I have pictures to show those old memories but who would have the luxury of a camera then??