Honouring The STARS...part 1.

Me and my wife D2 on the bridge at Cavenagh. The time was just after 5 pm.

A briefing on the procedures being carried out by Lim Chee Kam of the C3A....with Award winners paying close attention.

ACTIVE AGERS AWARDS 2008... the details.

The Presentation Ceremony was held during the Gala event on Sat 4th Oct 2008 at the Cavenagh Bridge....in the late evening.

The theme of this grand function was...

Honouring The Stars.

And to show that the nation takes active ageing seriously, no less a VIP than the President of Singapore himself was slated to present the awards.

Unfortunately, President Nathan was advised by his doctors to rest due to his indisposition prior to the event. In his place,

the Guest- of -Honour was Dr Vivian Balakhrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Each Award winner was accompanied by 2 other invitees of his/her choice. In my case, it was my wife D2 and David my son-in-law, who had his 2 month old baby son Jordy strapped to him. The person who nominated the winner was also invited separately. My younger daughter Dora is the one who nominated me for the Award. She was most delighted that she was able to attend with her baby son.

The whole set up at Cavenagh Bridge was novel and rather unique. No one in my time could have guessed that such a thing is possible...having a grand function on the bridge itself, with a stage, lights, sound systems, TV screens with "live" coverage and yet posing no problem to the public.

I was impressed. And so were others.
The media people were also invited to cover the event...which included Redsports.

On 93.8 Radio station...LIVE !

This is the " LIVE " studio of the 93.8 Radio Station of MediaCorp. I was there as the station's guest for the Programme "The Living Room". Also appearing in the same radio interview was Tang Wing Kee, a fellow AAA winner and Phyllis Choo, an Asst Director from C3A. The host, Stanley Leong is the Senior Producer-Presenter of the station.
We were there about 2 hours ago and I thought I might as well do a fresh blogpost now seeing that the segment that went out LIVE will be repeated from about 10.35 pm tonight. Yes...tonight! So, do catch it while and if you can.

The interview was really easy-going and conducted in a casual manner. No tight or tense feelings anywhere at all. Stanley and his studio colleague Pamela put us at ease so easily.
I won't go into the interesting details
of the interview except to say that it was fun, enjoyable and not to be missed.
When I took my Kamaka Ukulele out from its casing, I sensed the immediate excitement inside the room. Wow! Whoa! " You going to play it for us?" asked Stanley.
" Sure, if you like to hear it !" I replied.
I gently strummed a couple of tunes and then was asked what songs do I play and sing. " My repertoire is quite wide and includes kiddo and funny songs too", I added. "Hey, sing us a funny song !"
I strummed and got into " Ah Cheong Sok"...a funny song about a Chee Cheong Fun seller.
This is the 2nd time that listeners of 93.8 Live get to hear ukulele music from me.
In August last year, I first played the ukulele on the Programme " Travellers Tales" over 3 segments, 3 separate broadcasts. It was then hosted by Yvonne Gomez of the same station.
You can see all the details at my early posts in Sept 2007...at this blogsite.

The Magnificent 7....Active Agers Awards Winners 2008!

The Magnificent Seven is a Western movie I'm sure most old timers of my generation would remember watching. It was about a loose collection of 7 different characters who got together to fight injustice and the bad guys. They, the seven, were the good guys. That was the old version.
Now meet the 2008 version of the Magnificent 7, all separate personalities but bonded together in one mission....to show, encourage and motivate fellow seniors and retirees to live actively and usefully.
There are no bad guys in the new story...just the vast number of seniors, many with greying hair, silvery hair, white hair, thinning hair or no hair and all entering their Golden or twilight years of their life.
Yes, all have worked very hard throughout their productive life to slip into this most respected and revered position... senior agers. But many are not living an active, purposeful life. In the short run that can be detrimental only to the individual. In the long run, it can harm the family structure and by consequence, the nation.
Therein lies the Mission and the Challenge faced by these 7 brave Active Ageing Ambassadors....to show and lead the rest on the quest towards a life filled with hope not despair, optimism not pessimism, courage not fear,love not hate, reaching out not isolated, fun and laughter not sadness and tears.
What the young can do, we can too....and MORE!
As the Nike advert line says...."JUST DO IT !"

Picture Source: Straits Times Monday 6th October 2008, page A16.

ps: Wise Owl alias uncle Dicko would like to offer the Heartiest Congratulations to my fellow
Award winners and our sincere thanks to C3A, IDA, Prudential and all the other sponsors and relevant organisations involved. Our Thanks to the various VIPs at the Night of the Stars!
More pics and blogposts upcoming.

Followers of Wise Owl Blog.

Hi to all visitors and readers of this Blog !

This is uncle Dicko speaking. I am trying out a few new gadget applications on my Blog which maybe helpful and useful.
Right at the top of the page, on the right side, there is a "Follow this Blog" icon.
Click on it and you will be listed on the page.
I would encourage you to do that if you visit regularly.
That would signal to me that you have found a site with interesting content or the Blog
author wise enough to provide you some advice, inspiration or motivation...etc which all
of us need, from time to time.
For the real regulars of this Blog, I may engage and relate with you on a higher level....either
on this Blog, your Blog or even by email.

Regards,

Wise Owl

Look For A Star !

My 1st successful uploading of a video from Youtube is a major milestone for me. The song "Sukiyaki" must have brought back many sweet and nostalgic memories for people of my generation and those after. Some have emailed me their thanks for rekindling their past and comments were also left on the post.
The comment left by Peter ( a blogger-visitor ) is particularly touching.
Please see his comments at that post.
He recalled that around that time there was also another hit song," Look For A Star ".
And how it was one of his father's favourites....and his too!
Well dear Peter, please add me to the list too for this song.
As soon as I first heard the song in the early 60's on radio as a schoolboy, I was hooked.
It was such a lovely song to sing. The lyrics were easy and earthy.
And believe me...as I had done countless times, this song is best sung when you really can sit
under an open night sky, looking up at the stars above!
I used to sit under our huge "Jambu Batu" tree at our old Geylang home, surrounded by
friends and nieces, and strummed on my Ukulele singing this same song! That was so long ago!
And yet the emotions of this song still tugs at our heartstrings.
Above is a scanned image I took from page 10 of my 4 decade old handwritten songbook.
This song 1st appeared in 1961 in the movie " Circus of Horrors". It became a big hit and Billy
Vaughn later did a recording and made it even more popular.
So Peter...thanks for jolting my memory at the right time.
I am dedicating this post and this youtube video....to you.

WHY I enjoy BLOGGING so much !!!

A few minutes ago, I was seated comfortably by my desktop computer wondering what I should blog about today. Before I could decide anything, the phone rang. As I said," Hello..oo in my low melodious way, there were sounds of scrambling on the line and then, all at once in unison, the sweetest sounds I can ever hope for on such a special day and at such a moment..the familiar voices of my 3 grandkids aged 7, 5 and 2 breaking out into " Kong-Kong, Happy Birthday to YOU !"

Their singing of that Birthday song has never been sweeter. We had already had a small celebration over the weekend with cakes and a goodly spread of food.

After that call, I tried recalling when I was at their age, what was my early life like back in the 40's and 50's. It was difficult. There were hardly any photos to help jolt my memory. Some photos there were but only a pitiful few survived to this day.

We were not rich and our family was large, living in a corner pre-war terraced house which was rented.It was located on a prominent junction at 94, Siang Lim Park and Lorong 40, Geylang.

The Yip family had lived there from way before the War ( WW2 ) for more than half a century until the land was sold to developers for new condo projects in the 90's. Every old house there was demolished to make way for the new. My late parents moved out to live with my younger brother. All my siblings had by then been married, raised their own families and moved out long ago. After my late father passed away in the mid 90's, my elder sister handed me a bundle of papers and documents, all rolled up in an old plastic bag.

When I asked her what's inside she said,"Nothing valuable really. Some pieces of papers he kept all these years about his working life."

She added," Some of the other family members wanted to throw them away but knowing you,

I thought you might want to have a look first and find if they are worth keeping. "

When I brought them home, I discovered they were testimonials of my father. Some were handwritten and a few were typewritten. My late father being a typical Chinaman did not speak or write in English. And he could not have read a single word in those documents. Yet, he and others much like him, understood the VALUE of these testimonials. It was worth its weight and more in gold! Papers such as the one shown here were their guaranteed passports to jobs and better positions in bigger and better firms.

They had no formal education, no diplomas, no trade certicates, no ITE certs etc...

These early skilled workmen, as my father was, had to prove their mettle, over a project period

to their mainly colonial supervisors. Good conduct and good work attitude and ability to command a team of one's own countrymen in the workforce was very important.

As a former History teacher, I knew the importance and value of such early historical documents. I contacted staff of the National Heritage Board who met up with me and was quite excited by them. They were loaned to the NHB for micro-filming and archiving. And since then,

the documents have been restored and returned to me in an even better condition !

The above testimonial, plus much more things, is displayed on my other site...The Yippee Blogsite.

There is much material each of us senior, older folks have in the family.

Having lived through tumultous times we also have more stories, experiences and history

to share. But regrettably, without blogging about them, most of this valuable insights will be forever lost.

So back to the question: why do I blog ?

Principally to leave behind a LEGACY, an entire STOREHOUSE of Knowledge of who I was, of who we were, how we lived, our words, thoughts and actions.....and MORE !

For whom?

Everyone! Or anyone who is interested in the FUTURE. For POSTERITY !

But on a personal level I'm doing all this, making the effort so that my daughters and their children ( my grandkids ) and their own children after them ( my great -grandkids...still in the future ) and then all others in the extended family circle, will not need to guess or worse still, be in the dark...about who we once were!

The info and pictures they seek in the FUTURE is all here in these Blog pages!!!

From the time I was born to about when I was 8 years old....only ONE photo of me survived to this day. That is the old , yellowed photo above. My late mother was craddling me in her arms.

I was about 2-3 months old. That little babe is the Unk Dicko of this Blog. On my mum's lap was my elder brother.

The actual photograph is kept by my elder sister.

But my nephew scanned an mailed it to me only last year.

So, today with new IT and technology,even though that real old photo may get lost or damaged,

it does not really matter. The image, which is more important, has been saved permanently.