Here is the
latest batch of photos received from Joe Elliott. They show the Koh Sek Lim
Road which ran from Upper Changi Road to the beach at Bedok. To help you to
orientate yourself, I made a scan from my 1963 street directory.
Explanatory notes by Joe Elliott
Photo (1) shows Upper Changi Road from left to right. In
front is the Koh Sek Lim Road leading to Bedok Beach and Padang Terbakar. The
sign at the start of the road is a Wimpey Sign for the Bedok Sand pit. (The
Chinese sign says “公立中莱公学” read from right to left – not very sure about the 4th
word)
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| Koh Sek Lim Road today |
Photo (2) – Walking up the road towards the beach.
Photo (3) - Coconut trees on both sides of Koh Sek Lim
Road leading to Bedok Beach.
Photo (4) – When you get to the beach, you see this Pill
box from the war on Bedok Beach.
Photo (6) - The beach at Padang Terbakar with the Pill
box behind us. To the right of this photo a few yards over the bank, are the
Attap Houses of Padang Terbakar. These are shown on photos 7 to 10.
If you look at the map you sent me of the Koh Sek Lim
Road - the top of the road shows a right turn - the Houses were on the dotted
section of the map and behind these houses was the river marked 'Sungei
Bedok'
Photos 7 and 8 are photos of the Attap House Church which
was the original Bedok Methodist Church from 1946 to 1952. In 1952 they had the
new church being built down Bedok Road. This was finished by the end of the
year. You can see this on the 1963 map.
I looked on Google for the Bedok Methodist Church, found
their website and contacted them. I then
sent these photos to the Pastor Rev. Sng Chong Hui. He was delighted to see
them and said they were going to use them for the 66th Anniversary Celebration
which was on 21 October 2012 which they did.
I noticed on one of your Blogs there was a Ron Ho who
knew this area and talked about Koh Sek Lim Road. I think he might like to see
these photographs as a memory of the past.
8 comments:
I think the 4th word is probably "華".
Yes, "華" seems more logical. But it doesn't look like it.
Fascinating photos and although a bit earlier that my time in Singapore in 1960 they certainly look more like the Singapore I remember! I wonder does Joe have any photos from a bit further north along the beach and just beyond what was then the Easter Dispersal are of RAF Changi? There were two or perhaps more large attap colonial houses on the edge of the airfield just off what was then the coastal road - my friend Kerry Tasker lived in one of them and my memory is of them being quite isolated in that area so very noticeable
My uncle used to live in Bedok Village, and the happiest days of my childhood were spent at the beach there. Thank you for these photos.
Hello Annette, if your Uncle is Freddie Fox (God bless his soul), he knows my family as we stayed like 200 yards from the house he lived in Bedok Village. My house was right behind Bedok Rest House, next to the ice seller. Freddie went to St Patrick's School and was the same class as my older brother. Ron Ho
Hello Lam and Elliott, many thanks for posting the pictures of Koh Seck Lim Road. I roamed there around 1955 to 1965 till we moved to Lorong Marzuki. My house was just behind Bedok Rest House. 6A Bedok Road. Koh Sek Lim Road and vicinity had several notable landmarks. There were two large ponds created as a result of sand mining. We used to take a dip there although it was forbidden. There was also a large tree which was made up of several trees clumped into one. Maybe it was a ficus tree. Very large and one could get to the main trunk. There was a Chinese Taoist shrine under the shade of branches and people used to go there to pray and ask for lottery numbers. We called it the Tua Pek Kong tree. If you look at the map you scanned and printed, the tributary river leading to the main Bedok River is still there. It is now facing the entrance of Laguna Country Club. Ron Ho
There are few side tracks from the old Koh Sek Lim Road leading to Gulega and Somapah,besides Mata Ikan.There are also official road names like Lorong Chabai etc .The old map only shows a straight road .
The Chinese character is " "華". I think the school(Chong Wah) was move further into the village, somewhere near Padang Terbakar off Siak Guan Road. See the bottom left corner of this map:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=432415043470511&set=a.370790389632977.89848.369240119788004&type=1&theater
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