Wilson Chua – Lavender Street & Dunearn Technical School | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Wilson Chua is one of the pioneers of independent Singapore’s technical education system and small-medium enterprises (SMEs). He talks about growing up in a shophouse at Lavender Street and studying at Dunearn Secondary Technical School. His PE teacher was the famed national sprinter C. Kunalan and he enjoyed scouting and sports more than his studies. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/eaJEFn0e56o Part 2 | https://youtu.be/DtStzIL-Ewk Part 3 | https://youtu.be/hHEWxorIj1I 00:00 Introduction 03:05 The Story Behind UT-Ways 有地位 05:21 My Shophouse at 239-A Lavender Street 10:20 Move to Pasir Panjang Estate & Back 19:17 Living in a Shophouse 25:01 Dunearn Technical 32:21 Interest in Scouts & Sports 38:28 C. Kunalan 46:36 Discos & Long Hair 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