Anthony Woo – Old Engineering Apprentices of Singapore Part 1 | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. To support his family, Anthony Woo enrolled in the engineering apprentice scheme at the Dockyard Technical College of the Singapore Naval Base in 1957. He was following in the footsteps of many young Hainanese like him and Cantonese who worked in the marine industry. He talks warmly about his British lecturers, classmates (including one Chua Chor Teck) and the masters (sifu) who taught him. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/lStkSUGcDiU Part 2 | https://youtu.be/HX4z8W_RSJY 00:00 Introduction 02:40 The Hainanese 09:18 Dockyard Technical College 22:13 My Lecturers 25:28 Chua Chor Teck 35:36 ‘Put your head in twice, come out once’ 41:02 My Classmates 48:33 Learning from the Masters 54:49 My Sifu Email me lkshis@gmail.com if you like a copy of the book, We Strived and We Thrived, by the Old Engineering Apprentices Association. I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore