out . St . [ oseph ' s had three buildings , the present building with the curved wings , the hall with the chapel above it , and the building along Waterloo Street which was referred to as the Anderson Building .
' One thing that struck me was the lists of donors who had contributed to the construction of the building , and as these tablets still exist they should be kept as antiques . Singapore was not dead , neither was it bustling with life , and the traffic in no way disturbed the peace of the place . The school boys and boarders never had any trouble in crossing Bras Basah Road to go to the field . I forgot to mention that when Iarrived itwas December 1924 , and I was still only a student Brother .
' I spent the day at St . [ oseph ' s , attended Vespers and Benediction in the Cathedral with Bishop Barillon presiding , and Mr . Prins was already acting as Master of Ceremonies .
' After dinner with the other Brothers we took the car to Katong where the Brothers had a bungalow . Weturned offthe Geylang Road on to the East Coast Road at a place where there was a " Firestone " factory , and from there it seemed the town no longer existed . It was rural all the wa y to Katong and on the way the car lost a wheel or a tyre , and as there was no road lighting it took some time before we found it . I spent the night at Katong , and the next day , somewhere in the Bedok area , I was taken by Brother Sigebert to see a famous banyan tree that had so many trunks that it was impossible to see the original one . This banyan tree covered quite an area , and I regret I did not visit it again . I suppose it must have disappeared by now .
' In the evening I saw the boarders playing football , and with bare feet . This was something new for me because in England we always wore boots for such a game . The way the Chinese boys could
Above , the Anderson Building , built by Robert Hamilton in 1907 . Below , the Chapel and Hall .
The Community , 1900 -1939 19