Short film, nice prize! just 90 Seconds!

WIN A CANON EOS 7D in just 90 seconds!



Show us WHERE YOU HEART IS and you could win a CANON EOS 7D and a trip to the UK's leading short film festival.

Click here for details.

We are asking you to show us the places in Singapore that matter to you, and already we have had some lovely work submitted.

See: http://civiclife.sg/competition-gallery-new.php

Check out details of the CANON EOS 7D, which has full HD video recording capability, here: http://www.canon-europe.com/cpn_eos7d/ and find out more about Encounters, the UK's leading short film festival, here: http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/

Closing date is Friday, September 17th, so get filming!

WHERE THE HEART IS is a collaboration between the British Council, the National Museum of Singapore, Encounters Short Film Festival and the Singapore International Foundation.

The festival of the Hungry Ghosts

Today is the 8th day of the 7th lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

Some of you would have seen these altars around the neighbourhood...



They are set out by either individual families, or by trade and neighbourhood associations who band together to offer food and drink for the wandering 'Good Brothers' - the respectful name for those who come back to this world for a month to enjoy themselves with the entertainments available on earth.

These associations often also stage a celebratory dinner for all its members. Tiong Bahru had one last week and it is one of Singapore's oldest recorded 7th Month Celebration Associations - SIN HOCK HENG SEAH:



The red bags on the table are full of useful goods to be distributed once a year to all who subscribe to the association. These would include - Rice, Oil, Sugar, Soya Sauce etc. the necessities of life!

Entertainments that include song and dance on stage - otherwise known as Getai 歌台. If you want to find out where there is Getai each night - and it happens all round Singapore - just by the daily Chinese newspaper - Lianhe Zaobao! And often, a grand dinner and auction!



Sometimes, the offerings take place on a grander scale, such as at the Buddha Tooth Temple in South Bridge Road. Tonight, long tables of offerings were laid out. Don't think that the faith does not move with the times! One of the offerings is of french fries and chilli sauce - can you spot it in the picture?





Finally, to check out the whole programme of events to explain why and how this month is commemorated and celebrated by Chinese who believe in their traditional faith, check out the event at Kreta Ayer Square, by Chinatown Complex Market and just behind the Buddha Tooth Temple. A very informative exhibition has been put up - Hungry Ghost Festival Cultural Exhibition - Free admission.



The Chinatown Business Association with the Singapore Tourism Board and the Taoist Federation, is also organising a series of talks and events for all who are interested. There is also the calendar on the blog - Chinese Temple Event Calendar.



Don't miss out what Tiong Bahru Market has to offer too - there are lots of seasonal goods on offer!

psst. For those of you who do not know, it is not polite to step on offerings or the ashes of offerings. Just walk around them.

The biggest festival day will be the 15th of the 7th month - 24th August 2010.

The YOG Flame is visiting Tiong Bahru!!!!

Latest news!

The YOG Flame will come through our hometown around 11.30 to 11.45 tomorrow - Friday, and they will run thru Lim Liak Street!

Come cheer on the runners, and take a nice picture of the flame in our heritage estate.

They will be accompanied by the local Lion and Dragon Dancers!

Nice to know that we are seen as representative of Singapore by the YOG folks too...



Wonder if Merly and Lyo will turn up?

With each generation, there is something more to be grateful for

Happy National Day neighbours and friends!

While the flats here in Corinne May's song are not of Tiong Bahru's vintage, Kampong Arang dates from the 60s when we underwent the heroic effort to rehouse our fellow citizens from tenements, slums and squatter shacks.

The simple architecture may not be considered much to shout about when compared to today's positively gleaming HDBs, but it is nice to see that these pioneer flats being celebrated, if nothing else, as a place where we started, as a place that evokes a feeling of home.

It is also good to be reminded of the role of the common-corridor - the five foot way of our Tiong Bahru flats - that was inherited from Raffles' planning rules, and transformed/brought into high-rise housing from the 60s to the 80s - that is is a place where community formation - as a result of friendships being formed - has a better chance of taking place. And its many small community/ies that come together to make a Nation.



Hopefully one day, we will have an equally nice ND song set in Tiong Bahru!

Majulah Singapura!

Happy National Day! I love Tiong Bahru, I love Singapore!

Here's a wish for a Happy National Day to all of us here who live in, or are fans of Tiong Bahru....




Our first ever community banner with the signatures of the residents who came for the tea party. Do add yours in!


(pictures courtesy of Zaihan, of WCS) The Banner will be up on display for the duration of August.

Last weekend, we had our first ever party to mark the 'launch' of our special Community National Day Banner.

Instead of having a typical design that is generic, Seng Poh RC thought to ask if the White Canvas Gallery would consider contributing the outcome of the sketchwalk through the estate, to create a special National Day banner that would have a real local flavour.

WCS and the artists of the walk readily agreed, and it was put together into what you see above. The design of the banner was done by WCS, and we hope you will agree that it is really quite eye-catching!

On the day of the launch party on 1 August, even though it was overcast and drizzled, many residents turned up to see what the banner was all about, and we have to say that all of them were pleasantly surprised to see our home town captured first in an artistic form, and secondly, transformed into a banner!

Young and Old were excited to sign their name on the banner - often looking for that particular sketch that showed their block or their street.






(Pictures courtesy of Barnie Leow)

Even those who did not plan to come to the event, but passed by, were happy to see the banner, and added their name to it, and then joined in to have a cup of tea and a chat with their neighbours.



(Pictures courtesy of Barnie Leow) The little girl at the bottom left of the picture was looking for her sketch.

So, what else is there to say but that, we do love our neighbourhood, and we do appreciate how Art can make us recognize the beauty of our hometown! Seng Poh RC is thankful for the helpful folks at WCS, the 4 artists - Don, Tia, Miel and Paul, and all the other enthusiasts who turned up for the sketch walk and made the banner possible.

Happy National Day everyone - as we so love our hometown, we can then also love our country....



p.s. Seng Poh RC welcomes opportunities for collaborative events between all who are interested in the neighbourhood, especially where the event is an opportunity for residents and friends of the estate to meet. If you have any proposals, do drop us an email here - we will forward it to the RC.

Make a date with your memories this Sunday 8 August, 10 pm on OKTO!

This Sunday, 8th August 2010, a new documentary film will be screened at 10pm on Okto.


Do you know, do you remember where this dragon is?

Okto's Special National Day Documentary Feature OLD PLACES – with support from NHB’s Heritage Industry Incentive Programme (Hi2P) - is produced by Chuan Pictures, directed by Royston Tan, Victric Thng and Eva Tang, and features the voices of Singaporeans as they recall their memories of disappearing places in Singapore.

Take a walk down memory lane and revisit Old Places in Singapore once again.

Reminisce yesterday's past today. Don’t forget to tune in. Tell your friends!

Have you entered the competition yet?

The British Council sponsored Civic Life project is having its 'Where the Heart Is' film competition for all who live on this island of Singapore...




90 seconds is all it takes to get your chance to win a place to the world's most prestigious short film festival later this year...

read more about it on:

WHERE THE HEART IS

All the best!