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Our Fathers Our Shelter

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Shelter — just as the houses in and around our Bedok kampongs once offered a roof and refuge to the families within them, our fathers did the very same. They found for us a place we could call home, a place where we felt safe enough to live, to grow, and to experience all that life had to offer. And like the homes they built or provided, our fathers themselves became our shelter — the place we turned to for guidance and advice, for provision and restoration, and most of all for the comfort of knowing we were safe in their presence, wrapped in their arms whenever we needed them. Many of them are no longer with us, yet we look back with tenderness and gratitude at the sacrifices they made — carrying the weight of being the family’s breadwinner so that we could go to school, play freely, and enjoy the simple joys of childhood that kampong life gave so generously. To all the fathers reading this, thank you. May you be blessed each day, knowing that the labour of your hands has neve...
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From Bedok Waters, With a Father’s Love

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Here on the shores of Bedok Beach once rested a handful of sampans -  among them, one belonging to Ahmad, husband of Salmah and father to Saadiah and her family of 35M Jalan Greja. Humble and unadorned, his vessel held more than nets and oars. Within its frame lived the story of a man who carried responsibility, devotion, and the weight of being his family’s shelter. By day, Ahmad served as a lab technician at the Singapore General Hospital. But in the evenings, and whenever time allowed, he would push his sampan gently off the shore, rowing into the calm to fish - steering with the same steady hands that guided his family through life’s shifting tides. When his sampan lay pulled up along the coast, it became a quiet landmark. It beckoned family to come closer to admire, and to mark their visit with a photograph, like this one. We remember and honour Ahmad , along with brother‑in‑law Mohd Noor and Jalan Greja neighbours Iazim and Leman - all sampan owners of Bedok Beach in...
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Bedok Beach 1951

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A rare, quietly beautiful glimpse of Bedok Beach in 1951 taken from this angle. Our paternal aunts, cousin, and grandaunt sit together in the sea breeze, taking in a shoreline that belonged to another Singapore. Behind them, the familiar silhouettes of the three‑storey Sa‑chan‑lau and the British WWII pillboxes stand watch, markers of a coastline still shaped by the post‑war years. Even the roofline of the former Bedok Rest House peeks into view, completing a scene that feels both intimate and historic. This is the kind of photograph that lets us step back in time to the 1950s for a moment - when Bedok was quieter, the sea closer, and family outings like this were simple and precious.
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Local music royalty from our Bedok kampong

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Our grandmother really enjoyed eating the wantan mee from the coffee shop at the corner of the row of shops facing Bedok Corner along Bedok Road at the turn. Almost every day, our cousin - whom Grandma had raised from infancy and who lived with us in our Bedok kampong house - would head out to buy this meal for her. She was in her early teens then, around 1964. On the way to the stall, she would pass the sundry shop and the Ho family’s house at 6C Bedok Road. She remembers clearly how, time and again, music spilled out from that home - guitars strumming, a band rehearsing, and a young female voice rising above it all. It was only a year later, when Silver Threads and Golden Needles became a hit in 1965 (her favourite song), that she realised she had been walking past the home of one of the members of   Singapore’s 1960s music royalty: The Crescendos . All she knew back then was that she had a teenage crush on one of the boys, Raymond Ho “he is so handsome!” Many thanks to Ra...
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House Treasures - Silver Jubilee of His Majesty King George V, 1935

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One of the quiet treasures of our old Bedok kampong house was an 11‑page commemorative booklet marking the public celebrations of May 1935 in honour of the Silver Jubilee of His Majesty King George V - the maternal great‑grandfather of the present King Charles III. Once belonging to our paternal grandfather Tan Piah Eng , this fragile programme is more than a keepsake; it is a window into the civic life of pre‑war Singapore. Its pages map out routes and landmarks still familiar to us today - Orchard Road, Connaught Drive, the Padang, Jalan Besar, to name a few - and reveal a city alive with parades, lantern processions, fireworks, and community pageantry. Most strikingly, it records four centres across the island that served free meals to the poor, a reminder that even amid royal celebration, the spirit of communal care ran deep. This book has since been donated to the National Library Board / National Archives of Singapore for preservation , ensuring that its stories -  and the ha...
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Bedok Beach 1956

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A visit by cousins from our first step‑grandmother to our cousin - the second step‑grandmother - at her Jalan Haji Salam home was never complete without a short stroll down to Bedok Beach. There, a photo would always mark the day. We’re so glad they took this one - seated just outside the fenced police quarters, on a perfectly placed rock that seems made for the moment. Decades later, it still feels as if they’re waiting for us to join them, inviting us to sit, smile, and remember. Our heartfelt thanks to Winnie Goh and Yap Teck Gim for sharing this lovely photograph - a window into a gentler time and the enduring ties of family.
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Lovers' Tears - in our Bedok kampong

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On lazy weekends, the songs of old - especially those beloved Chinese melodies from the 1960s like Lover’s Tears - would drift through our Bedok kampong, carried from someone’s Rediffusion box or a Radio Singapura AM set. They invited us to hum along to their beautiful tunes, even when the lyrics were heartbreakingly sad. Ann Froud remembers this song well, and she even kept her original 1963 record. Here is Poon Sow Keng (Pan Xiuqiong) once again lamenting her lost love for us, her voice as tender as ever. Thank you, Ann, for sharing your 45rpm EP cover, this lovely memory, and for opening this gentle doorway back to the world we once knew.
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