We ♥ Serangoon Gardens

Our Neighbourhoods

Urban Sketchers Singapore

ISBN: 978-981-170057-6
First Edition, October 2020
© 2020 Epigram Books

Cover design and map by Allan Siew
Front cover illustration by Phyllis Chong

Back cover illustration by Mei Yee Cheung
Sketchwalk organised by Urban Sketchers Singapore

Published in Singapore by Epigram
www.epigrambooks.sg

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Table of Contents

A Little Village

Map

Credit : Sketch by JOEL POLI DATO-ON

Credit : Sketch by CHIA PEI WEN

A Little Village

Serangoon Gardens. The very name conjures images of flowers and greenery nestled amidst cultured harmonised surroundings. It was this, and more, when I first came across Serangoon Gardens as a mere teenager. Now, 40 years later, Serangoon Gardens seems like it has not heeded the call of Singapore’s unrelenting progress. When I re-visited it for Heritage Journeys, I found that it had retained the old-fashioned charm of days long past. These evocative illustrations from Urban Sketchers Singapore imprint on readers a past that is still very much alive in a concrete and glass Singapore that is reaching for the sky. A past that includes the corner where the old second-hand bookshop stood, where now hangs the barber’s trade, to the old Paramount Theatre where myVillage sits. Or the emblematic row of shophouses along Kensington Avenue, a prominent feature in many photos of the 1970s. The houses built in the 1950s by a developer named Steven Charles Macey, who saw the potential of a piece of land, still stand as a nostalgic reminder of a different Serangoon Gardens. Macey’s photos now grace the walls of the Serangoon Gardens Country Club, another building that sees generations build bonds over its 60-year history. This book is not about life in a bygone era, it is about a living, breathing community. The images that invite you to take a stroll through this little village where you will always find a little memory to cherish.

Catherine Khoo
Publisher
Heritage Journeys: No Place Like Serangoon Gardens

Credit : Sketch by KWAN BOON CHOON

“I used to buy min jiang kueh from a shop in Ming Garden before I went for swimming lessons in the Serangoon Gardens Country Club. It was very thick, fluffy and satisfying. The perfect treat before a workout.”

– Mathew Wong, student

Credit : Sketch by UHKY UHKY

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