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Introduction - Photos of Singapore in the Sixties

An introduction to the photos on this site. The document is not easy to read as it stands so after opening it use the magnification facility to enlarge it and then move it around using you mouse to read it.

Mar 28, 2011

Photos: 1

150 Years of Singapore (1969)

1969 saw the 150th anniversary of the founding of Singapore (founded in 1819) these photos ere taken around the same time as the 1969 National Day.

Mar 29, 2010

Photos: 6

Detachments at Butterworth and Darwin (RAF)

These photos were taken by my late Father during 74 Sqn detachments to Butterworth, (Penang) Feb 1968 and Darwin, (Australia) Jun 1969, from RAF Tengah, Singapore. In the Sixties the Cold war was still at it's height as was the Vietnam war so the threat was real, hence the need to beef up the defences with the Lightning. Anyone wishing to see older RAF related photos taken by my Father they can do so here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/britbrat56/IanPapworthSRAFPhotos# (Copy and paste the address into your browser

Mar 28, 2010

Photos: 58

RAF Tengah

These photos were taken by my father during his time with 74 Sqn at RAF Tengah, some photos were taken during the preparations to mark the 50 anniversary of the Royal Air Force and others of the subsequent families open day in 1968.

Mar 27, 2010

Photos: 44

The National Theatre

These photos are of the Singapore National Theatre, which was just down the road from us. The fountain which stood in its grounds used to be lit up at night, it had three sets of water spouts and several arrays of lighting. My Father it has to said was somewhat obsessed with this thing he would spend hours photographing the seemingly endless permutations of spays and lights. Unfortuanately these night shots don't seemed to have survived too well. The theatre apparently became unsafe structurely and is no longer in existance. Elsewhere on this site there are photos of the Bourne School speech day which bizarrely took place there one Saturday.

Dec 3, 2009

Photos: 17

National Day

Aound the 9th of August every year Singapore celebrates its indepenence from not as you might think the UK but from Malaysia. Independence was gained from the UK in 1959 but the Singaporeans decided to them split from Muslim dominated Malaya. Parades took place in the streets and were very colourful affaires. The photos here were taken in 1968 and 1969.

Dec 3, 2009

Photos: 20

Chinese Funeral Sequence

While we were out in Singapore the Father of our Chinese Amah (Mary) died and my father was asked along to part of the funeral ceremony in order to take some photos. There wasn't too much info on these slides but from memory this sequence involved clearing the area of evil spirits.

Dec 2, 2009

Photos: 9

Civilian War Memorial

These photos are are of the war memorial errected in honour of the civilians who died in Singapore during WWII, particularly at the hands of the Japanese while in capivity.

Dec 2, 2009

Photos: 8

Kranji

This is the military WWII cemetery, there are literally hundreds of graves here and the memorial at the front, (which is not shown here) has walls inscribed with the names of hundreds more soldiers, whose bodies were not found.

Dec 2, 2009

Photos: 7

Mount Faber

This is the highest point in Singapore, in the sixities it was a fairly quiet place where you often find snake chalmers. The views of the harbour and city have changed significantly today and you can now get a cable car over to the nearby island of Sentosa.

Dec 2, 2009

Photos: 13

McRitchie Reservior

McRitchie Reservior is the largest in Singapore and a vital source of water for the local population but also provided a popular place for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Nov 18, 2009

Photos: 15

Elizabeth Walk

Elizabeth Walk was just that, a pleasant area along the coast, near to the Espalande and river mouth.

Nov 18, 2009

Photos: 7

Kota Tinggi

These waterfalls are located about 50Km North East of JB in Malaysia and were a popular destination for service families to visit in the sixties as a good way of cooling off.

Nov 18, 2009

Photos: 13

Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens was a favourite place to go on a Sunday afternoon, there were nice walks, flora and fauna to look at, a lake and of course plenty of free roaming monkeys. A cafe was there to provide that much needed bottle of ice cold cola when it became too hot for walking. Today the gardens are still there but the monkeys ave long gone.,

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 30

Scouts

Scouts were immensely popular and the whole family were involved. I started of in the 1708 service Cub pack, then with about four others had a spell in the Singapore Scout movement before finally transferring to Gilman and fianally the Bourne School troop.

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 36

In and Around Far East Mansions

Far East Mansions was our home during our tour in Singapore. The place consisted of four twelve storey tower blocks just off Kim Yam road, with four flats on each floor. These photos were taken around or from the flats at various times during our time there. These flats were pulled down in 2007 and new ones put up in theie plce.

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 26

Scout and Guides - Hill 152

Hill 152 was actually a sawmill located up in the North East of the island and we had permission to use the area at weekends for Scout and Guide days out. The name 152 I believe camp from an old Army map of the area, which at that time was very rural and undeveloped. Activities were quite varied including rock climbing and learning to cook over an open fire! Thank god 'elf n' safety wasn't too active in those days as it was all activities were very well run and we had no serious accidents. Those people who gave up their time to run these things should be be saluted, people like, Steve Artinsall, his wife, Don Kember, his wife, Louise and Mal Manning, Margaret Mears and of course my parents to name but a few.

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 42

Guides

Guides were also immensely popular and again the family were involved. My mother and Sister having the most involvement in this case.

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 20

Scout and Guides - Joint Camp

If I remember correctly these photos were taken during a joint Scout and Guide camp, which was held at a purposely built facility by the locals on the coast.

Nov 17, 2009

Photos: 24

Tiger Balm Gardens

No Singapore photo set would be complete with some of this place, Tiger Balm Gardens aka Haw Par Villa. I have still to find a place to touch it for its uniqueness. It has in recent times been threatened with closure and was sadly only part open on my return in 2006 and left out of the current tourist brouchures. The authorities will hopefully realise they have a national treasure which should be preserved, I used to enjoy walking around this place marvelling at the intricately painted plaster work statues. Like the Forth Bridge in Scotland there always seemed to be someone painting the place up. Family trips here took place quite frequently during our time out in Singapore.

Nov 10, 2009

Photos: 20

Dakotas aka The Netball Queens

As most UK forces families employed Amahs to do the domestic chores, that left the wives twiddling their thumbs, so they spent some of their free time playing netball of all things and highly popular it was too. The Far East Mansions team of which my Mother was a member was known as the Dakotas. These photos were all taken of the Dakotas, (yellow dresses) on their home ground playing various teams. My Father had written on many of his slides "The Netball Queens", hence the title.

Nov 10, 2009

Photos: 30

Singapore River and Harbour

The Singapore river was a bustling area where most of the goods that came into the country were transported up and such items as raw rubber went the other way. The area was very crowded with bum boats travelling up and down and was very run down. The river stank to high heaven and was heavily polluted, no living thing could have possibly survived in it and it was somewhere you definitely did not want to fall in. Today the only boats are ones taking tourists for pleasure rides, the old commercial area close to Kim Yam road, (Clarke Quay) has been transforned into night clubs and eateries and above all the river is amazingly clean!

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 39

Kampong Glam

A fair number of the locals lived in these kampongs, Malay villages which were dotted around the island. This one was right next door to our flats in Kim Yam road and very close to the bustling river area. This photo along with others was taken from the balcony of a friend's flat at Far East Mansions. I used to walk through this to see friends in the neighbouring flats. One feature I recall was the main path to Pacific Mansions went through the middle of some local's house. Their living area was on one side and their kitchen on the other, one would just calmly pass through and the occupants just carried on! Although the people who lived here very poor by western standards they always seemed quite cheerful and friendly. Today these places have all gone and everyone lives in modern high rise appartments.

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 8

Mary (our Amah) and her Family at Home

As in common with most forces people, we employed an Amah to do the day to day household chores. Our Amah wasa Chinese lady called Mary, who we got on very well with. These photos were taken during a visit to her home during the course of Chinese New Year

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 21

Bhuddhist Lodge

Opposite the flats we lived at was a Bhuddhist temple. In 1968 a large building was errected which becamce the Bhuddihist Lodge. Some of the photos show part of a service taking place out in the grounds of the temlpe.

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 6

The Family

These photos of the family were taken at various times during our tour, at the time we were all quite heavily involved in the Scouting and Guide movement.

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 32

Friends

This section shows some of my parents friends during various social gatherings. If anyone recognises themselves, hopefully they'll get in touch, I am in touch with one or two already thanks the other photos that I have posted up on www.singas.co.uk

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 20

Places to Swim

Family trips took place regularly (and it is easy to see why) with friends to Pasir Ris and Changi Beach just further along the coast on the North East side of the island. We also spent quite a bit of time at the RAF Brit Club, which had a large swimming pool.

Nov 8, 2009

Photos: 16

Miscellaneous

In this section there are a variety of of odd photos, which I am not able to place into a separate category.

Nov 2, 2009

Photos: 52

Vesak Day

Vesak Day is a Bhuddhist ceremony pretty much the equivalent of the Christian Harvest Festival, expect all the proceeds go to local the Monks, who live by charity alone. Our (Chinese) Amah, Mary a Bhuddhist knowing my Father was a keen on photography invited the family along to the Bhuddhist Temple she frequented. While there we were almost treated like royalty and we were extremely well looked after. Not only were we invited into the temple to watch the proceedings but we were invited to a meal they all had afterwards and we were even waited on by the Monks while everyone else had to queue! (Date Oct 1969)

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 23

Orchard Road Mackan Stalls

This car park which was situated in Orchard Road opposite the Cold Storage supermarket was exactly that by day but on most days in the late afternoon while it was still light the place used to transform into a thriving eatery and become full of local mackan stalls, mackan being the Malay word for food in general. As can be seen in one or to of these photos if you didn't get your car out in time then you had it unil the following day. We used to visit this place at least once a month (as it was the only set of mackan stalls that were rgularly checked and deemed safe for Westerners to eat from) and enjoy a meal, usually opting for the Tamil dish of mootaba.

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 18

School Days

A couple of these are photos of Bourne School speech day, which took place on a Saturday!! (1969) The other photos were taken during a Tengah Junior School sports day, (1968).

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 6

Island Boat Trip

One Sunday we all went out to an island trip, i believe it was called Ghost Island but can't be 100% sure. I am sure you can see why I am reminded of this place when ever I see one of those desert island cartoons. We travelled out on a large boat then were ferried ashore in a small motor boat. (Date 26 Jan 1969)

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 4

Locals

These are some general photos of locals taken at work or at leisure in such places as the Botanical Gardens. The styles of dress varied quite considerably. Some groups like the Chinese were very keen to embrace the sixties fashion scene, while others tended to dress more conservatively. (Date 1968 &1969)

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 20

Fishing Ponds

Fishing was a popular past time and I used to go up to one of these ponds, (Red Mire or Chap Seng), situated in the north east of Singapore island pretty much every Saturday. Some of our friends from Far East Mansions came with us on this occasion. (Date Oct 1968)

Nov 1, 2009

Photos: 7

Mosque at JB Malaysia

This photos of this Mosque in JB Malaysia were taken in August 1969. From memory one the the key features of this particular Mosque was that it contained items from pretty much around the world, including UK made Wilton carpets, which can be seen rolled up in a couple of the photos. (Date Aug 1969)

Oct 31, 2009

Photos: 9

China Town Tour

This photos were taken by my Father during a guided tour around China Town in August 1968. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of info on these. From Memory the general advice was NOT to go into the China town area on your own at night but rather in a group. I do know that on this tour my parents saw such things as opium dens in full use and went round one or two of the dying houses. To date I have found no photos of these but photography would have probably been restricted as the Chinese at that time were highly superstitious. [Peter Chan has kindly e-mailed me to inform me that some of these photos are of a Chinese wake in sago Lane]

Oct 31, 2009

Photos: 11

Wayang in Orchard Road

These photos were taken of a Wayang, (Chinese theatre) that sprang up in Orchard Road Road one day in August 1969 and remained there for about three days. The plays that were put on sometimes ran for several days virtually non stop. One feature I recall was that scene changes tended to take place while the Actors were still on stage, not only that but the Stagehands were simply dressed in shorts and vest and looked out of place as they wondered on to the set.

Oct 31, 2009

Photos: 16

Thaipusam

Thaipusam is a Hindu ceromony of penance, which still takes place today. Basically a male member of the family carries a cage full of spikes known as a Kavadi from one temple to anonther over a distance of around 3Km. Others pierced their bodies with an assortment of hooks and pins. On this particular day in 1969 my father and I got up really early and watched some of the preparations. Despite the apparent horror of it all most seemed to take it their stride and their was no point that I witnessed any blood!

Oct 31, 2009

Photos: 22

David Papworth
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