Saturday, November 10, 2012

Last pictures of P.E.Estate before demolition.

Last evening, I was fortunate to be able to attend the 60th anniversary dinner of Princess Elizabeth Primary School. I was seated at a table with my ex-classmate, Shoen Yih, whom I had not met for nearly 45 years. With him were his three siblings, Shoen Liang, Shoen Yi and Shoen Keng, who were also ex- P.E.E. School students.

Also with me at this table were two others whom I knew only through my blog and via Facebook. They were Wendy Ng and Hrh A Sean (Andrew). Though we had communicated through Facebook, it was the first time that we were all meeting each other face to face.

I was very touched when Wendy, who knew I would be at the function, produced out of her treasured memorabilia, an old newspaper cutting she had brought specially for me. Thank you Wendy!
The 1994 newspaper spreadsheet was an article on Princess Elizabeth Estate just before it was to be demolished. Sadly, the photos in the article showed the estate in its last neglected state.
Here are the pictures I scanned out from the article as well as the original write up in Chinese.


Princess Elizabeth Estate in 1994.
Sadly, ageing and waiting for its impending demise.
Most of the residents have moved on and the flats shuttered.
In the rear is Blk 23, Blk 22(left) and Blk 20 (centre).
Front left Blk 17 and right Blk 18.



The old commemorative signboard that was moved
to the football field between PEE and Hillview Estate.

Click on the newspaper article to read it in a larger size

6 comments:

  1. Flats dwellers today will envy the wide open and green spaces between the blocks of flats.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In the early years, cows and goats grazed at some of the open fields that nearer the 'forested area'. Fresh water eels could also be found in one of drain/streams running through the edge of the estate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It would have been more enjoyable if more from the "Original" school were present. We felt so left out and forgotten...

    Met Mrs Kannan.. and wrongly mentioned that she thought me in Primary 2.... Wah, the sprightly 70 year teacher is mentally more alert than me..... maybe she was my Pri 5 form teacher in 1972?? I had Mrs Lee Siew Cho, Mrs MG Thomas, Mr Tirlok Singh, Mrs Olivia Looi, Mrs K Kannan and Mrs Nathan...

    Talking about Mrs Kannan, looks like she hasn't age a single bit since 1972!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. James has unofficially become the OFFICIAL Historian/Spokesperson for Princess Elizabeth Estate... Even Mrs Kannan follows it online...

    From the School's exhibit, it is in need of the original metal school badge. It seem they do not have one displayed... so sad...maybe a piece of Bloomers or the old yellow and green uniform...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bloomers OMG !! That's really 20th century but sadly ..our time.
    Yup SK, we are officially the lost generation from PEES. Focus now only on those who went to school at Bukit Batok.

    ReplyDelete