Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

1967 with us boys (one six, the other four plus) posing for our dad after a nice swim at Bedok Beach. Our kampong house is a few minutes’ walk away but this photo is telling as behind us boys, one can see the reclamation projects in full swing. The beach front where Upper East Coast Road is is gone and soon our own place in the sea and sun would be consumed by the frenetic pace of progress and development. Originally in black and white, this version is colourised

Our late father passed on to us many wedding photos of his or his older sister’s friends whose wedding they attended in the 1950’s. Here is one of a lovely Malay couple we’d like to share.. The wedding date was 25 March 1951. If you know this couple, please contact us so we can connect with you!

One of the wonders of starting this blog and FB page is being able to connect with former neighbours who were older than us and thus had experienced our Bedok kampong living in a different manner. Mr Ronald Ho, 13 years our senior, who lived across from our house (near the kapok tree), has kindly given us insights into a small river creek that flowed right up to where our house was (we can see a concrete embankment around the house in some early photos). This creek connected to the actual Bedok River, passing by the Sultan of Pahang’s holiday home, the Police quarters and several government black and white holiday bungalows. He recalls that around 1958 the creek became a rubbish and trash landfill that gave out a putrid smell in the air, which our family and those living nearby had to endure during those times. Earth was poured over the landfill and thankfully by 1959 the work was done, looking at some photos of our young mother posing in the house garden, standing in front of the ar...

For the first generation of our family at our Bedok kampong house (encompassing the years prior to and leading up to the 1950’s), the traditional idea of “men manage outside, women manage inside” holds true for our household and the extended families it encompasses. The womenfolk, while managing the house and all its matters, also interact within the siblings’ structures, especially if they are sisters and at times, when circumstances call for it, also among the wives themselves. For our paternal grandmother, having a good relationship with her siblings was key to the eventual closeness we have within our current generation #2 and #3 of siblings, cousins and second cousins as the years go by. In this circa 1946 portrait photo (thanks to our second cousin Irene who provided this), we can see our grandma (she is Sis#2) with her two sisters and some of their biological and adopted children (not all children including our father are in this photo). Interactions were frequent as well wh...

Sleeping arrangements at our Bedok kampong house in Nov 1954: The house had 4 bedrooms of varying sizes, 2 at the upper house and 2 at the lower section where the kitchen and toilets were. When our family first moved into the house in November of 1954, the main upper room was occupied by our paternal grandmother and grandfather along with our 4-year-old paternal cousin while the other bedroom at the upper house belonged to our paternal aunts. Our father occupied the smallest room (that was also a common store area) nearest the ‘jamban’ (bucket sanitation system) and the last room next to the kitchen was the bedroom of our other grandmother “Mama Blakang”, so named because she slept at the back of the house. Yes, in those days polygamy was an accepted practice – and our grandfather indeed had principal and secondary wives, with other wives living elsewhere. We know that both our Mamas living here got along very well actually and that will be another post to be shared soon!

We wish to extend a warm welcome to all new recent followers to this blog. Thank you for joining us! This blog was created as an ode to our old kampong house at Kampong Bedok Laut, just inside Bedok corner, behind the Bedok Rest House (now the Eastwood residences). This blog forms the basis of all our Facebook posts in a related page of the same name, ie "Our Bedok Kampong House - Singapore" (The other FB page without the 'dash' is no longer active due to administrative issues).  This wooden plank, zinc-roofed house had its address firstly as 614-3 then became 10J Bedok Road, Singapore 16. Our stories and posts are not just archival/historical, but we wanted to also layer in the aspects of personal lives lived there from 1954 to 1974, that period of the three generations of us residing here. We do have many old photos and documents that give life to our stories and memories.  We believe this is part of the experiential heritage and legacy of the Singapore community. G...

Who among the readers and followers here, like us brothers, were also born at the former Kandang Kerbau Hospital in Hampshire Road? With three of its old blocks recently collectively gazetted as Singapore’s 76th national monument, we found some documents our parents kept! Happy to share both our birth discharge certificates of 1961 and 1963, and the older one’s hospital bill ($12.24 for 6 days stay) – all before we got discharged and moved into our Bedok kampong house. July 1961 (Mother was actually 22 not 24 years of age) Jan 1963 Hospital Bill $12.24 for 6 days Receipt issued by the State of Singapore Photos by Straits Times

We are grateful to Michael Hall for alerting us to this photo of the British defensive pillbox found at the mouth of Sungei Bedok. This photo taken by Tony Holt of the RAF Changi Association was found on their website and with permission given by him, we are thrilled to share this with you. On the left of this pillbox, interestingly was once the home of Daniel Koh, with the house on the right belonging to his uncle. This angle is interesting because in past shared photos the pillbox was at the back of the photo with the Sungei Bedok bridge upfront – sharing these late 50’s early 60’s photos again where our family members strolled from our Bedok kampong house for about 5 to 10 minutes to reach this bridge, the link to bring one all the way to the Koh Sek Lim estate.

65 years ago today, on 2 October 1960 our parents got married. Our mother joined him in residence at our Bedok kampong house thereafter. With Dad having passed away in June 2023, our mother has stoically carried on. We continue to remember them both as one and so this lovely honeymoon photo (and now colourised) they took in Penang is one to be especially fond of.

Today is a special day because, 61 years ago it was the wedding day of our youngest paternal aunt and her beloved, whom they met way back in Kampong Soopoo before the move here to our Bedok kampong house in 1954. They continued to stay here and we welcomed our 3 cousins as the years passed. So grateful they were able to celebrate their 50 th wedding anniversary in 2014 before she passed two years later. From two changes of wedding attire, having the tea ceremony at home, and honouring our late step grandmother before the wedding car took them away to his place, it was indeed a day to remember. Even the kampong folks celebrated with them! Congratulations on their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014

This (circa) 1950 photo by Tony Holt of the RAF Changi Association is such a beauty, reminding us on how lovely the east coast of Singapore was then. See that Katong-Bedok bus, which was established in 1935, plying this Upper East Coast Road without traffic woes, and coming from Bedok corner where the terminus was, just a few minutes’ walk from our Bedok kampong house.

The first 3 rd generation daughter born into our Bedok kampong house! Our dearest cousin, who just turned 1 in this 1966 photo, poses with her mom in the veranda of the house and actually looking at the camera! Today, she like Singapore is an SG60 baby! Happiest of birthdays to you!

Turning back the clock even further to 1928 (circa), is this studio portrait of our grandmother with her first child, our Aunt Annie, just about 4 to 5 years then. Life was so promising to her but cut short when she was taken ill with TB at age 28 and passed away just 2 weeks after contracting the disease in 1952 on this day 73 years ago. Our Bedok kampong house remembers you Ko Besar with this tribute!

On this day, Sept 13 th 1945, 80 years ago – the huge ceremony on the steps of the Municipal Building (former City Hall) of surrender presided by Lord Louis Mountbatten was attended by thousands. Our father, then just 15, took time to be there, he told us – and kept this special 4-page Straits Times report, bringing it into our Bedok kampong house and even after we moved he had it - until recently donated to National Library Board. All copyright for these pages now belong to them.

This is our mother during her honeymoon atop Penang Hill in October 1960 taken by our late father. What a beautiful shot! (photo has been colourised). You were just 22 years then… but the same loving lady all these years – Happy and Blessed 87 th birthday to our Mom! Selamat Hari Jadi dan Panjang Panjang Umur!

This week we commemorate the birthday of the Bedok kampong house Patriarch our grandfather. Born in 1878 he would have been 147 years this year and so we celebrate his life with this 1911 testimony from his superior from the Bukit Timah Rubber Estates (original is with the National Library Board). What an excellent role model for us all. He was 33 years old then. Also included here is a slightly earlier photo of 1907 when he was part of a rifle shooting team! October 1911 1907

The year 1958 seems to be special to our household. Our late father kept the cover of a wall calendar from that year (and we just found it). Somehow, we have a bank pocket calendar from that year as well. 1958 was the year our parents started dating too. But best of all, that year in December was the time the first wedding took place at our Bedok kampong house with our paternal aunt. The rest of the cousins and womenfolk, all between 18 to 20 years of age then, found the time to drop by Bedok Beach, which was just a few minutes down a path from the house! December 1958 at Bedok Beach very near Bedok Corner

All it took was a housekeeping exercise at our mother’s home last week to find this red Bakul and then match it to this 1950 photo and realised it was the Bakul our grandmother once carried like a handbag cum carrier and continued using when she moved into our Bedok kampong house 4 years later in 1954. So vogue this bag! Very “Sepekah” we think!

In 1970, So we were just 9 and 7, our dad and paternal uncle brought us both to the Capitol theatre to watch the film (we called them filem then) “Taste The Blood of Dracula”. At that time, the horror genre was increasingly popular until actors like Christopher Lee owned the Count Dracula ‘franchise’ in as many as 10 movies which he starred in. We don’t know what made these men bring us boys for such an experience. When the curtains drew lavishly to either side of the screen, all we remembered was a scene when the ghastly blood-filled red eyes of Dracula filled the entire cinemascope screen. We had nightmares for months after that. It did not help that our Bedok kampong house was scarcely street lit at night and surrounded by banana trees, and a renowned haunted kapok tree nearby.. shudder