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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Journey to Seletar

Many of you might find Seletar very familiar but you are uncertainly not sure where Seletar is located. Seletar is an area of Singapore within its North- East Region. It near to Yishun, Sengkang West and Jalan Kayu.

Seletar used to house The British Air and Naval Bases in the 1930s. It served as both a military airbase and a civil airport until 1937, when the new Kallang Airport are ready and able to handle all civilian flights.

In 1965, Singapore gained independance. As part of the British military's withdrawal from Singapore, RAF began its phased handover of the airbase to the Singapore government in 1968.


To commemorate the memories of RAF personnel who used to station at Seletar during the British British colonial rule in Singapore, the RAF Seletar Association decided to display the cairn outside the main guardhouse and was sponsored by Rolls-Royce on 31st March 2013.

The Cairn wrote as follow:

RAF STATION SELETAR
SINGAPORE

This cairn, created using material from an old RAF building at Seletar,
was unveiled by members of the
RAF SELETAR ASSOCIATION
31st March 2013
(exactly 42 years after the RAF Station Closed)

This Cairn commemorates the period 1926 to 1971, when the facility
was built for and operated by officers, airmen and airwomen of the
ROYAL AIR FORCE
(From 1928 until 1937 it also functioned as Singapore Airport)

This cairn is also dedicated to the many thousands of British, Colonial and
Commonwealth civilians, who built, managed and maintained
the facility during that period.

I was posted to Seletar during my National Service. It indeed bring back a lot of memories when I revisited Seletar. I remembered, I used to wait for SBS #103 before the main guardhouse bus stop to the camp or took 15 minutes walk to the camp.









The main guardhouse are still functioning till year 2002 till the guardhouse shifted further inside. The guardhouse facade and the building still remain and refurbished with a new purpose. To educate our next generation to lead us in the future. You can find Chatsworth Kindergarten in the former glory of the main guardhouse.




I decided to walk in and took some photographs along the way. I remembered there used to have golf course during 2008 but after which, the golf course removed and it became empty field. Are you curious that why inside Seletar, you can find so many British Road name like Piccadilly, St Martin Lane, Oxford Street, Baker Street etc?

It because by naming those street name based in England, it will make the British less homesick and let them feel more comfortable as through they are at home.



I used to walk this long straight road to the camp in the wee morning but I loved it because it was so cooling and I enjoyed the morning mist.










Soon, I reached Blk 398 Canteen. This canteen kinda old school. Or rather Kampung Style of canteen. This canteen sell the cheapest drinks and food! Especially their coconut rice! This canteen used to be very near to Seletar camp before the camp moved to it new premises.




Those who posted to Seletar should recalled the old camp opposite Blk 179 CCO canteen used to sell very famous and tasty Wanton Noodles and mixed vegetable rice. The stall owners are very friendly. We used to patron them whenever we are free especially for breakfast.

In year 2011 onwards, Seletar went through re-devolpment to build a Aerospace hub. Some of the Colony houses are still managed to preserve but some of the Colony houses that near to the camp unfortunate demolished to make way for Aerospace Hub.

Now the guardhouse and the CCO canteen are gone (demolished) and it is now construction site where you can see from the photographs above.

I really missed their food and the CCO canteen. I am sure many of you agreed with me.















Nearby to the Seletar camp, you can find many abandoned colonial buildings around this area. I am not sure all those buildings, what are their story and what their purposes. If you stayed such building before, you are welcome to share the story with us.

Visit to my Facebook page here to view more Seletar photographs.

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