Where have all the squash courts gone?

In my previous post, I mentioned that squash was very popular in Singapore in the late 70’s and 80’s. At that time, finding a squash court to indulge in our favourite sport was always a challenge.

I took up squash during the tail-end of my OCS days in Safti. My section mate, Lim Kheng Guan taught me how to play the game. Subsequently when I was posted to 30 SCE in Mandai, I had more time to play the game. We did not have our own courts and had to go next door to use the one at 40 SAR. At that time, the SAF had plans to build at least two squash courts in every camp.

Elsewhere in Singapore, it was still very difficult to find a squash court, and so after my ROD, I often had to depend on my friend KG, who was a regular, to bring me to his camp at Selarang Barracks to play. He was the QM (quartermaster) in one of the SARs (Spore Armoured Regiment). He also brought me to SCSC (SAF Command and Staff College) at South Buona Vista occasionally.

Mar 1978 (obviously posed) photo taken at Gillman Camp. Notice the wooden racket. My first racket was a Dunlop, a popular brand at that time. Another popular brand was Ascot.

The design of the new squash courts in SAF was terrible. To access the viewing gallery, you had to climb a ladder – I repeat, ladder, not staircase. Thus whenever we brought lady friends along, it was quite inconvenient.

When I started work in Philips (Audio Factory) in Toa Payoh, I was a member of the Sports and Recreation Club Committee. As squash convener, it was my duty to book the squash courts for our players. I usually went to the SSC (Singapore Sports Council) office in Kampong Java Road early on Thursday morning to book the courts there so that my colleagues and I could play on Saturday morning. There were two sets of squash courts in Kampong Java. One was near the KFC restaurant (A) along Kampong Java Road where the KK Hospital sits today. The other (B) was next to New Cemetery Road (later renamed Cavenagh Road) where there were many tennis courts. The design of the courts near KFC was even worse than those in the SAF.To get into the court, you literally had to stoop and crawl through a tiny door!

Today, the squash and tennis courts at B would be sitting smack on the entrance to the CTE Tunnel.

Occasionally, I managed to get another former army mate who was working at the HDB (Housing and Development Board) to book a court for us at the HDB Club. Do you know where that was? It was located at Toa Payoh Lorong 6; near to the stadium. I am not sure …. I think it was subsequently turned into the present Safra Club.

Later on, I managed to secure a long term booking for a court at Anglo-Chinese Junior College. I remember on one occasion running into my former Add Maths teacher Mr Chee Keng Lim who had become the principal of ACJC. I often trained with my Philips colleagues – not just those from my factory, but also friends from other Philips factories, including those in Jurong. Once a year, we represented Philips in the Seira (Singapore Electronics Industries Recreation Association) inter-factory competition, playing against other MNC’s like HP, TI and National Semiconductors. Unfortunately, they only allowed one place in the team for the ladies because we had not 1 but 3 very strong lady players; and we never did very well in the competition. The Seira competition was usually held at the courts in Fort Canning or the East Coast Recreation Centre – next to the MacDonald’s restaurant.

As I said, getting a squash court was very difficult in those days. And so if we knew any friends who had the ‘lobang’ we would ask them to bring us along. Thus I remember playing in places like the Shell Club in Pulau Bukum and Paya Lebar Road and others. One other place where I went to regularly was on the roof top of the PUB Building at Sommerset Road. My old friend Heng Tew used to work there and he would sign us in on Saturday mornings. We would also make use of the swimming pool there.

In 1986, when my new employers, NPB (National Productivity Board) moved to its own building in Bukit Merah Central, we finally had our own squash courts. I remember playing with one very famous ‘colleague’; our chairman Mr Mah Bow Tan, who was the minister-of-state for Trade and Industry at that time. In fact yours truly was the winner of the inaugural Mah Bow Tan challenge trophy.

In the late 80’s, squash courts became widely available in the numerous condominiums and country clubs which had sprung up in Singapore. At the same time, the popularity of the sport waned. I often wonder; maybe Singapore would still be a top squash nation if we didn’t build so many condominiums. Maybe it is human nature that when good things are in abundance, they lose their attractiveness.

Singapore – A guide for businessmen and visitors

A friend who heard of my craze for old stuff related to Singapore lent me this magazine that she happened to have kept since 1961. Flipping through the pages of this half-century old publication of the Ministry of Culture, I came across some interesting historical facts.


Social services: Singapore

"At the last census held in June, 1957 the number of persons enumerated in Singapore was 1,445,929. The estimated population at the end of 1960 was 1,665,400 showing an increase of 219,500 during the past 3 ½ years…..

With a high birth rate and low death rate, the population is growing rapidly and is expected to pass the two million mark by 1967. The bulk of the population is in the young age groups, e.g. in the 1957 census, the number of persons under 20 years of age will constitute approximately 56 per cent of the total population as a result of the large number of persons born immediately after 1946 entering into the reproductive age groups.

The crude birth rate in 1960 was 37.8 per thousand population. The crude death rate declined from 6.4 per thousand population in 1959 to 6.2 in 1960. The infant mortality rate also declined from for 36.0 per thousand live-births in 1959 to 34.9 in 1960.

The rapid increase in population makes a heavy call on the resources of the State to provide health, education and other social services and adequate housing for its people."


Anyone recognize where is/was this 'modern housing estate'?

Equally interesting are some of the advertisements.




Finally here’s an old building quiz based on a photo on page 31. What building is this and where was it located?

Singapore Under Water - Peter Chan

Over the decades we had many serious floods and despite improvements to our drainage systems, floods still occur. There were many reasons for these floods; some reasons are still valid today.

Photo 1: When a rainstorm blocks your view of the city from Amber Road, you know there’s going to be some serious flooding somewhere (circa 2009).

1) Heavy rainfall coupled with high tide
2) High density populated areas
3) Construction activities contributing to more surface run-off
4)Drains and canals unable to support surface run-off because they are polluted, choked or simply not big enough.
5) Low-lying areas

Photo 2: Rising water in the Bukit Timah Canal and a BMW is marooned in the flood waters at the corner of Chancery Lane and Dunearn Road (circa 2009). As late as the 1980s, you paid $5 and some Malay boys would push your stalled vehicle. Photo Courtesy of Beatrice Lim.

At one time many residents from Strathmore Avenue to Lower Delta Road suffered from flooding. This was because of the boat-building activities next to the Kim Seng Bridge where tongkangs were built, burnt or left to rot in the waters. There was a foul smell at low tide because organic decomposed matter produced hydrogen sulphide, a pungent gas easily picked up by the nose.

Photo 3: A flooded area outside the former University of Singapore’s Bukit Timah campus. Opposite is Kheam Hock Road. (circa 1964).

The waters of the Singapore River and Rochore Canal were black in color because premises used for trade, business and habitation were not connected to sewers. For example housewives and hawkers were fond of this age-old habit of washing dishes with detergents in the backyard, and letting sludgy water run into open drains, which in turn run into the Singapore River and Rochore Canal. Also there were many motor workshops along Sungei Road contributing their fair share of the problem by spillage and irresponsible disposal of oil into the drains.

Photo 4: View from Gilstead Road towards Dunearn Road. After the flood water subsided, petrol at the petrol station was contaminated and homes in the Malay kampong flattened. Many years later, the Malay kampung became the Chancery Court HUDC Estate. The ESSO petrol station is still at the same site (circa 1969).

One area in Singapore which easily flooded was the lower Bukit Timah Road/Dunearn Road stretch between West Coronation Road and Newton Circus. The former University of Singapore sport fields became “swimming pools”. Other badly flooded areas included Robinson Road, Braddell, Potong Pasir, Norfolk Road, Whampoa, Tanjung Katong Road, Sennett Road, Balmoral Road, Kampung Java Road, Chinatown, Jalan Kolam Ayer, Jalan Ubi, and Paya Lebar.

Photo 5: Grass patch on one side, business on the other side of the Rochore Canal. Near Weld Road (circa 1962).

By the early 1980s, the Bukit Timah Flood Alleviation Scheme was completed with a new canal stretching from Sixth Avenue to Sungei Ulu Pandan. It was a project aimed at diverting water away from Bukit Timah – a low-lying area with a history of flooding. In the early 1990s, another diversion canal near Whitley Road was built connecting it to the Sungei Kallang. The Bukit Timah Canal, from the Institute of Education to Rochore Canal, was further deepened and widened, resulting in the loss of a row of flower nurseries called Floral Mile and the A&W Family Restaurant. The Bukit Timah Road was even raised. Rochore Canal was drained of silt, debris and toxic pollutants.

Photo 6: Left – Is this policeman doing the right thing at Duchess Road, off Bukit Timah? Right – A resident who lives opposite Chai Chee Secondary School, off Sennett Road (circa 1968).

When I was at secondary school between 1967 and 1968, we were always very happy when the class monitor announced; “Today no lesson” which meant it was a free period with no teacher supervision. How we wished that there were going to be no more lessons tomorrow. In 1969, I stayed at my cousin’s house at Paya Lebar Street; his terraced house was flooded. Cooking pots and woks floated out from the kitchen into the living room and we found seated on top of one of the cooking pots was a rat. In 1977, I faced an even more challenging moment when my Mini Clubman was caught in a flash flood along Napier Road, just outside Tyersall Avenue. Tactical “interplay” between clutch and first gear ensured that I got through the flood waters. When I inspected the car, I could squeeze water out of the car seats. No wonder my pants were always damp for next couple of months.

Times have changed and flooding looked to be a thing of the past. But in November 2009, something unheard of took place. Flooding affected the upper Bukit Timah Road stretch between Sixth Avenue and Blackmore Drive. Although it is fair to say that the November 2009 incident was a “freak event that happens once in 50 years” according to a government minister, I am sure when you are the victim who owns a property or an expensive Masserati this is not quite on. Fallen trees crashing down on a house or a landslide is a nightmare for many people. Who likes to get involved in litigation? Any motorist can tell you that once a car gets submerged in water, there is extensive damage to engine and transmission. Not only you face expensive repair bills from the car workshop, your vehicle will not perform as normal as before.

Photo 7: Left - Abandoned sailing boat in the Kallang Basin opposite the future Kallang Water Sports Center. Right – Boat building yard at Kim Seng Bridge. In the background are godowns which would be replaced by Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in the future (circ 1966).

Halleluiah, we don’t have a Tsunami. I am very assured by the 2006 National Environment Agency study telling us that in the worst scenario we could face big waves between 0.4m to 0.7m above the average sea-level, waves reaching no more 50 meters inland and at speeds slower than normal tides. Even then, do you think there will still be floods in Singapore?


Related post: When we walked on water