The Walmer Drive in 1956
“A Walk Through The Old Neighbourhood – Serangoon Gardens” blog was posted by ‘Remember Singapore’ to share here .
Memories of Serangoon Garden Reunion 2017
With thanks to my heritage friend, Geri, who invited me to the “Memories of Serangoon Gardens Reunion” at the Serangoon Gardens Country Club on 18 February, 2017.
The occasion was the 3rd reunion of the “Memories of Serangoon Gardens” Facebook group, which was attended by about 70 people. The group page was started by Geri in 2012.
It was my first time to the Serangoon Gardens Country Club and I needed some help from Googles to get direction and map guides.
A group photo with Mike, Geri, Danny and Carol at the reunion dinner.
Geri grew up and went to school in Serangoon Gardens in the 1960s and early 1970s. Mike and Geri left Singapore over 40 years ago and presently live in Canada with their children, grandchildren and immediate families. They have made numerous trips back in the last 10 years to meet up with relatives, friends and former schoolmates.
They missed their favorite traditional local food and would meet with their “makan kakis” to revive their memories of the familiar taste and smell of the food with which they grew up in Singapore.
Memories of their past trips to Singapore to share on YouTube videos here .
When Serangoon Gardens was a Kampong in the Past
Bullock cart near Serangoon Gardens Estates in 1956
Passenger boarding the bus at Farleigh Avenue in 1956
St Peters Church, 1957
“Chomp Chomp” Food Centre – Then and Now
The archived photos are shared on this blog with the courtesy of the National Archive of Singapore with acknowledgement and thanks.
Thought Moments 
Residents & visitors can expected an upgraded food centre. Thanks to all concerned.
Comments by Sim Hui Hwang posted to Facebook:
Serangoon Gardens was my second home for 35 years, James. U can say i know all e nooks and cranies of the place but ironically i dont. From sunrise till sunset i was literally stuck at Lichfield Road, then Kensington park road. Serangoon gardens circus is my usual haunt esp e market. The stall owners of the hawker centre have been there land before time. There is one particular hokkien mee stall which also sells porridge, macaroni soup, mee goreng and fried beehoon. I patronise this stall decades ago n the stall is manned by 3 capabe sisters in law of sorts. They know u by name. After breaking camp the scout master and fellow scouters would adjourn to this place to eat our morning breakfast. Those were e days! In fact i used to take a short cut by walking down the school field, passing by the rifle range which leads directly into Walmer Drive. Then there was this mamak stall where i bought my favourite archie magazines for my nephews. The coffee shop used to sell laksa and char kway teow and there was the Borsch Restaurant where u could get a real decent western meal for under $7.50. When we got our salary we would eat a small feast there. The tablecloth was invariably a red chequred cloth. The whole set lunch includes ice cream too. Then Pow Sing Nonya Restaurant was and still is the to go place to celebrate birthdays or for when ur craving for chicken rice was impossible to contain. My father loved this restaurant so much and the owner knew us because i would always buy from his shop. In fact whether e restaurant had some suspension due to some food poisoning issues did not deter me from going there to get the ckn rice. My nephew could just eat 2 plates of ckn rice without eating the ckn at all! Then there is a goreng pisang stall occupying a small corner of the kopitiam and that is the only place i ever got to eat sukun, deep fried breadfruit fritters. That was years ago. Now they no longer hav sukun fritters. There is also the chong hoe chinese medical shop manned by a family of chinese physicians. I still go to the shop to get things. However the chinese herbs can be very expensive. I seldom go to myVillage because im not there for the whatever modern things they sell there. It was e old Paramount Theatre. There is a Malay nasi padang stall where the food is reasonably good n tasty. Pricing can be unpredictable. Sometimes it can be so cheap and sometimes high. I got a feeling it depends a lot on the math of the day. The vendor can be punching price on.her calculator and then she would give u the puzzled look on her face and then whatever price she quotes u just pay her. After exactly 35 years i bade farewell to this area which used to be my second home. I still go there but it is no longer my second home. I forgot to add that i used to go there to cut my hair. I was a regular there for more than 2 decades.
Remarkable difference between past and present. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing that you kept the old photos! Thanks for the share. I used to study at Cooling Close Convent and attended mass at SFX. Father Fossion retired there from Holy Spirit. He was my priest in kindergarten. Thanks for the share😊
I stil have fond memories of Gardens and cycling thru Cheng San Rd to places which have vanished within….The ‘Back shop’, Ah Lau’s bicycle shop…at the entrance of Cheng San Rd….Lucky fishing pond and a tropical fish & Pig farm where the owner taught us school boys how to breed egg laying fish and buying tubifex worms caught on a wire going thru Pig Poo in a ditch around the pen….and feeding mashed cockroches with milk powder to the fish….the air was so fresh in the kampongs….not forgetting the smell…and no traffic rules, one gave way using common sense and good manners….