Tay Kay Swee was in Princess Elizabeth Estate School from 1954-1957. (See previous blog article here.) He shares with us the following photos from his school days and of his scout days at PEES.
The Inter-school Table Tennis Champions for 1956. (Tay Kay Swee is 2nd from left. Beng Seng far right & Leong Li Lian front left )
Tay Kay Swee was a pupil at Princess Elizabeth Estate School from 1954 to 1957.
That would make him one of the pioneers at PEE School that moved to Hillview in 1955.
Kay Swee lived with his family at Blk 19 Princess Anne Hill.
He moved away in 1976 but his family remained there till the estate was closed in 1994.
Tay Kay Swee was in the school scout movement as well as being an active sportsman in school.
He sent me an old photo that was taken after the scout troop ended a camping trip to Sembawang Beach. He was a Troop Leader then in 1956.
He is very keen to meet up with his school mates or anyone from the scout troop.
Princess Elizabeth Estate School Scouts - 9 August 1956.
Though information is sketchy, here's a bit that might help:
Tay Kay Swee - Seated 2nd from left
Idris - Seated 1st far left.
Edmond A Doss - Scout Master - seated 3rd from left
Robert De Souza - Scout Master - seated 4th from left
Lau Cheng Hock (Dr) - seated 2nd from right.
Mohinder Singh - Back row 3rd from right - lived near the circus beside Castrol
Beng Seng - Middle row 2nd from right - sportsman & table tennis player - lived next to the Ang family (Ang Meng Huat/Ang Meng Kong) facing the football field.
Kam Fatt- Middle row 6th from right - lived at house facing football field.
Also searching for Seetoh Hon Hoy, the estate tailor's son who was a scout but not in the above photo.
If you can recognise or identify anyone from the photo, do put in a comment below and hopefully, I can get some sort of reunion going for them, as this blog has done for many others.
Thank you for keeping Princess Elizabeth Estate alive.
I spent my childhood at Block 6 Hill View. We were the pioneer batch of residents and spent a good 8 years there before moving out. My elder brother studied at the Princess Elizabeth Estate Community Centre, while I being younger by 2 years, had the chance to study at the then brand-new Hill View CC in 1983 (before it was renamed as Bukit Gombak CC).
I was a student of PEES in 1985 and had always passed by the PE Estate en-route to school every day. I loved climbing up the slopes and passing by all the houses.
I fondly remember the Magnolia Ice Cream Uncle in the old tuckshop and the Malay Auntie who used to sell donuts. I bought donuts daily from her for my entire P1 year :)
I was showing my mother the photographs and she was very excited and pointed out the details of her primary school which she spotted on one of the photographs. She lived and studied near the old St Joseph Church.
It was a Chinese primary school, and you can refer to the comments in the attached photos.
Please continue to keep the old memories of our childhood places alive.
Addendum by James Tann
This is the area behind the cemetery (bottom right) which Fong Phui wrote above. This area is now the Chestnut Drive housing development. Her mom's old house should be in the kampong area on the top left of picture. Jalan Geok Siang Nng led all the way to Jalan Cheng Hwa at Bukit Panjang Village.
If you have been to the Dairy Farm Nature Park, you might have seen this rather quaint abandoned building near the Wallace Education Centre.
In the past, I have been often asked by many people, including some TV production companies, with regards to the background of this mysterious bungalow.
Until recently, my only bit of knowledge of this house was that it was used as the field headquarters of Brigadier Duncan Maxwell during the Battle of Singapore in Feb 1942. Brigadier Maxwell was in command of the 27th Brigade of the 2nd Australian Imperial Forces. His men were assigned to defend the area between Kranji River and the Causeway.
Who occupied the house before and after the war was totally beyond me until recently, when a close friend, Jerome, sent me some old photos of Dairy Farm.
Jerome's great great grandfather came to Singapore from China in the 1890s and lived in the area that would eventually become Dairy Farm and Chestnut Drive. His family homestead was there till the late 1980s when the government acquired the land for housing.
It seems that this particular house was formerly owned by the Cold Storage company that ran the dairy farm. The house was staff quarters and was used by the chief veterinarian as well as the General Manager of Dairy Farm in its time. The last occupant was Mr Fielding, and thus it is often referred to as Fielding's House.
So, mystery solved !
Until now, you'd probably only find urban legends and talks of haunted houses if you tried to google this place.
The main milking shed at Dairy Farm has now been turned into the Wallace Education Centre and is used for teaching schools about art and ecology.
Here are some pictures of the Wallace Education Centre today as well as an old photo from Jerome showing the original milk shed in the background
Princess Elizabeth Estate was built in 1953 by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), after taking over the project from the Princess Wedding Fund Celebration Committee.
In 1960, all housing related functions in Singapore were assumed by a newly created government body, the Housing and Development Board, which was established by an Act of Parliament on 1 Feb 1960.
Reader Amir Ahmad recently sent me a copy of the original tenancy agreement which his father signed with the HDB in June 1960. That allowed them to move into No. 141 Elizabeth Drive. This unit was on the ground floor of the 7-storey block. This bock would in time be known as Block 24.
Here is a scanned photo of that tenancy agreement, a rare and priceless heritage document today.
This was one of the early documents issued by the new Housing and Development Board.
Amir Ahmad also made me a sketch of his old home at unit #01-141.
Some of you, who might have lived at Blk 23 or Blk 24 will recall the layout of these 3 room flats.
If I am not wrong, I believe Amir used to live beside the unit that was used by our estate band boys, the Pests Infested, for their loud band practice? Can't imaging fitting a band into those tiny living rooms that we had!
Last November, I wrote about the suspected World War 2 Japanese pillbox that may still exist on the slopes of Bukit Gombak. With the recent dry spell, it was perfect weather to organise a search and to identify the concrete structure, or what's left of it,
This morning a team of enthusiasts brought together over Facebook made the exploratory trip.
Among those who came along were Andrew and Christopher, who had previously been to the structure itself, Kim Frost, a WW2 vehicle expert and Jingyi, one of the few trained archeologist in Singapore, heritage blogger Jerome, and with experts from the Bukit Brown team, Andrew and Fabian.
I had brought together this team on my own premise that the structure there could possibly be Japanese or at least WW2 related. But, in order that I would not disappoint anyone if it turned out to be a wild goose chase, I decided to embellish the trip with some side itinerary.
1. A good mornings' hike up the hill.
2. An understanding of the geology of Bukit Gombak and the region.
3. A visit to the mysterious hidden lake at Bukit Gombak.
4. A history of the war in relation to Bukit Gombak.
5. The primary purpose - to view and identify the damaged concrete structure.
The trekkers reaching the base of the spur where the concrete structure is located.
Climbing the steep cliff face. Part of the concrete can be seen above/
Andrew cutting the vines to create a passageway.
The hidden lake near the top of Bukit Gombak.
Part of the concrete structure. Anyone recognise what these are?
Kim Frost digging and trying to identify the structure.
A large metal protrusion.
Were we able to positively identify the structure? Unfortunately, no.
There was simply not enough visual evidence to indicate what it was or what it was used for. The structure was in total ruins as though it was purposely destroyed but this is not likely to be as Andrew and Christopher had seen the structure semi-intact before the roof caved in.
Even then, the group found other distractions at the site.
Apparently, some unknown people, probably the residents living in the nearby HDB flats, have created a sort of vegetable garden and it was thriving in this isolated hillside. Pandan, tapioca, pineapple, bananas, sugar cane and chillies were found in neat plots.
And, best of all, we discovered a new and easier route to the structure that didn't involve climbing the cliff!
A real Pandan garden
Alas, we also saw signs of a recent field survey, which could possibly mean that some sort of development might be on the cards for this place.
As for the concrete structure, I guess it has to be left to more professional people in future (if there is a future for it).
Here's a little trivia about Bukit Gombak which I shared with this group.
Bukit Gombak contains the oldest known rocks in Singapore.
Contrary to the misconception, Bukit Gombak is actually not made of granite but of another type of hard rock called Norite. Though one is easily forgiven for not knowing the difference.
Samples of norite can be seen strewn all over the Gombak hill.
Bukit Gombak Norite is estimated to be 500 million years old, in comparison to the granite of neighbouring Bukit Timah which is a young 250 million years old.
A geological map of Singapore,
Bukit Gombak as seen from the East (Upper Bukit Timah side)
