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The Spotlight April-August 2017
Sengkang West welcome Fernvale Community Club in 2020
Sengkang West saw many improvements over the years .
BY NEO SHI JIE
Sengkang West residents can look forward to the new integrated community club by 2020 which consists of childcare facilities , hawker stalls and wet market .
Dr Lam Pin Min , along with the guest of honour Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong , unveiled the façade design of the Fernvale Community Club at the Sengkang West 11th Anniversary on Saturday , May 20 . The design was selected through a recent polling participated by more than 5,000 residents .
“ We had extensive discussion with agencies such as NEA , BCA ”, said Dr Lam in his speech . Fernvale CC is set to be completed by the second half of 2020 , with the addition of hawker centres , wet market and childcare facilities in hope of bringing convenience to the residents in Sengkang West .
Sengkang West was once under the Ang Mo Kio GRC in 2006 , until it became a single constituency in 2011 . Dr Lam said that “ significant ” improvement can be seen throughout the years . Anchorvale CC , Sengkang Riverside Park and Seletar Mall are some of the amenities that have been built over the years .
“ I think time really flies , you know it ’ s has been 11 years already but I ’ m happy to see that the community has grown significantly with more population and there is also this sense of belonging for the residents in Sengkang West .” Dr Lam added .
The Sengkang West 11th Anniversary attracted a huge crowd , with a variety of games and snacks booth available . Pony ride and go-kart ride were the main highlights of the event which has attracted many participants , especially children .
Residents interviewed said they were thankful and happy to see the district ’ s progression .
Ms Loy Boon Eng , a relative of a resident in Sengkang West , said , “ I think now there is a lot of new generation , a lot of new couples who just moved in here , [ which is ] quite good .”
Many also expressed their excitement towards the new CC .
Mr Lee SC , a volunteer of the event , hopes that the community can have “ more childcare facilities for young parents ”.
Tiong Bahru – A Walk Through Memory Lane
Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail stretches to 2.5km and consists of 10 stops , seeks to bring visitors closer together .
Student guides warmly welcome participants to the trail in front of Tiong Bahru Market . Photo : Celine Wong .
BY CELINE WONG
Monthly Heritage Trails led by ITE College West volunteer student guides , encourage participants to learn more about the history and architecture of Tiong Bahru .
Around 20 participated in the latest tour held in May this year , led by seven student guides . The guides started out by introducing the Tiong Bahru Market , and then proceeded to walk the visitors to subsequent stops , with a different guide introducing a new stop .
Cheryl Goh , 19 , one of the second-year student guide , said that she enjoys interacting with people as well as researching about Tiong Bahru and sharing the information with her visitors . “ I learnt to be more confident ,” said Cheryl as she remembers dealing with anxiety before she was a guide .
The visitors were brought to the front of the Bird Corner while Cheryl explains in detail the history behind the Bird Corner . Followed by the Horse-Shoe block , one of the first uniquely designed air raid shelters featured in the tour .
Chloe Reinikka , 19 , an Australian student currently interning at URA , said that she loves the design of the area and believes that Tiong Bahru has a character of its own and decided to come to this tour to learn more about it herself . When asked if there is any room for improvement , Chloe said that it would be nice to see evening tours , as it can get very hot and humid in the morning .
She also added that it would be helpful if the guides could give pointers or briefly talk about other areas every now and then as the participants walk from one stop to the next .
“ For foreigners , they tend to stay more in like central areas . It would be interesting if there are other areas in Singapore that are less known , you know , to explore . Perhaps it would be interesting ,” said one of the participants , Giovanna Laudisio , an expat living in Singapore .
Although Giovanna is generally satisfied with the tour , she added that some areas could use a bit more explaining , “ I would like more if the guide would explain more about the religion and what the different things mean .”
The Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail was first launched on April 14 , 2013 by the National Heritage Board . Participants will walk through a total of 10 stations , including some old architectural buildings , as well as other symbolic landmarks . Visitors can either venture into the trails on their own , or join one of the tours conducted by different organisations .
A resident happily playing mini bowling at a game booth with her grandson at the Sengkang West 11th Anniversary . Photo : Neo Shi Jie .
Though most residents are excited about the new community club , there are some who has mixed opinions .
In order to travel to the CC , which will be located at Fernvale , Ms Ho who lives in Anchorvale will have to spend approximately 10 minutes on public transport to reach
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She said , “ Unless there ’ s something very specific or something that I need to get there , I wouldn ’ t go there because it is out of walking distance to my place . I stay around here , if I have to go there , I need to take a bus which is not convenient .”
Getting artsy at Open Deck 2017
More local collectibles , prints and photography introduced at this year ’ s event .
BY ANDREA NG
The third edition of Open Deck ’ s annual fundraising event pays tribute to vendors by local artists with invited curators Pann Lim and Kenny Leck .
Organiser Lai Yu Tong said , “ This year we have two very important curators , Pann Lim from Kplus Gallery and Kenny Leck from BooksActually . They helped us get together more professional , more niche exhibitors like Basheer , The Book Show and the bigger names .”
Getting the involvement of wellknown curators has helped to get more people to attend and spread the word . Participant Bernice Lee Fongyan said that Pann Lim ’ s booth , holycrap . sg was particularly memorable as he “ involves his family in an art collective in which they take photographs of their children ” and sell their artworks . One of which was a painting named Two Face , featuring character No Face from award-winning Japanese animation film , Spirited Away . Lim ’ s son , Renn , 13 , painted the background while his daughter , Aira , 11 , embedded Hayao Miyazaki ’ s face onto it , the film ’ s creator and co-founder of Studio Ghibli . Lee also added that she “ liked the way the children are involved with media and photography and arts ”.
On the other hand , BooksActually participated in the event for the first time as an invited curator to increase awareness of other vendors and introduce to the public things that they do . Owner Kenny Leck said that creators “ tend to be always talking within an echo chamber ”. Even though local creators are “ good in what they do and the content is there ”, they usually fall into a trap where they create and stop at letting people know that it exists . He stressed the importance of publicity as most entities like themselves “ just don ’ t do marketing ”.
Close to 40 vendors featuring independent and well known local artists were involved in this year ’ s open deck event during the weekend of May 27 to 28 . This year , a different approach was taken in which it uses
both outdoor tents and indoor galleries and is more focused on local works specialising in photography , local books , graphic designs and illustrations instead of last year which was a flea market style involving vendors of all fields .
“ I made an artist book so I am also trying to perhaps sell it and some of the books here are lesser found in Singapore ,” said photographer , Ng Hui Hsien , who was a vendor . She brought over a mix of books by Malaysian , Thai and overseas photographers as well as her friend ’ s who is based in Germany to introduce to the public and aims to achieve “ some exposure for the works ”.
Open Deck aims to raise $ 50,000 annually for their nonprofit organisation to fund their programs like exhibitions which usually run for one to two months and educational workshops . They also aim to publish educational textbooks for secondary school students to know more about photography .
Open Deck ’ s location at their independent container art space . Photo : Andrea Ng .