Goldhill Community Garden First Anniversary Celebration - I : Preparation

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Goldhill NC's Gardening Club celebrated its First Anniversary with a great party at the Community Garden with Gardening Club members, their families, friends and drop-in residents turning up in great numbers. It was a happy day for Fred Chong who had worked hard as GGC Chairman through the last year.......

GGC members were up and about from early morning on that eventful day - going to the market, harvesting vegetables and fruits from the garden, setting up the tables and decorations. A lot of them gathered at "Angel's Cafe" for the final preparation of the various dishes they were going to present for the "cooking competition".........

Not to be forgotten were the various prizes for all the various contests, games and quizes.....

Goldhill Community Garden On Show At GardenTech 2009

August 14th , 2009

The Goldhill Community Garden went on show at this year's 'GardenTech', an annual one-stop Garden Fair organised by NParks to allow sharing of best gardening practices, ideas and experiences. Held at HortPark, the event attracted more than 130 exhibits showcasing the latest gardening and environmentally-friendly products and services. Our participation was part of NParks' initiative to showcase successful Community Garden projects organised by Grassroot Organisations.

Our exhibit included a display of photographs and computer graphics outlining the origin and various stages of development of the Goldhill Community Garden. Members of the Gardening Club were on hand to answer enquiries from the many visitors to our stand at the fair.

Foreign Visitors to Goldhill Community Garden

30 June 2009

Goldhill Gardening Club played host to some 30 Urban Planning and Architecture students from the University of Adelaide on the morning of June 30th. It was a good exchange of ideas about the value of community gardens in an urban environment and the importance of community bonding in creating a sustainable quality of life. The visitors were impressed with what we have accomplished in the Community Garden in such a short period of time. A special treat of a 'Peranakan Breakfast' was given to the visitors by members of the Gardening Club.

Goldhill Gardening Club In The News

February 14th, 2009

So impressive was our Community Garden that the Straits Times paid us a visit and a nice story about the Goldhill Gardening Club appeared in the straits Times on February 14th.

That got us even more attention and attracted many new members. We also had many telephone enquiries about our activities. One enquiry originated in Adelaide, Australia and resulted in a visit by a study group from the University of Adelaide (see next post).

Goldhill Community Garden Opening Ceremony

November 9th, 2008

With the garden in full bloom, Goldhill N C held an 'Opening Ceremony' of the Community Garden on 9th November 2009 with our Member of Parliament and then Senior Minister of State, RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew as Guest of Honour. The Opening Ceremony was held in conjunction with the 'Moulmein Tree Planting Day' event. The occasion saw the planting of many fruit trees by the Guest of Honour and other grassroot leaders.

Goldhill Gardening Club Making Progress

October 2008

As soon as the plots were ready, members of Goldhill Gardening Club wasted no time in planting their choice of crops - vegetables, spices and herbs, flowering plants and fruit trees. Residents nearby were fascinated with what was going on and many joined in the fun. Slowly but surely, we saw a delightful transformation of the landscape into our 'dream garden'.

Soon, we were reaping bountiful harvests of many varieties of vegetables and fruits - which got us more admirers and the membership of the Gardening Club grew to include residents from beyond the Goldhill Garden estate.

In The Beginning

October 2008

It is hard to believe that our beautiful Goldhill Community Garden grew out from an empty plot of state land which had laid empty for some thirty over years.........
In early 2008 Goldhill NC decided to pursue the dream of residents to have a community garden. A Working Committee was formed to discuss formation of the Goldhill Gardening Club and a proposal was drawn up. Application was made through the Moulmein CCC to various authorities for permission to make use of the state land for our Community Garden. It took quite a while and a lot of 'ding-dong , merry go-round' between all the relevant authorities before we finally got the 'TOL' and the 'go-ahead' to proceed.

So, on October 24th, the day came for ground breaking - the 'pavilion' site and 'vegetable plots' were marked out. NC member, Sin Hock Seng came with his team of helpers, and together with some Gardening Club members, we put in days of hard work to get the many plots of gardening beds ready for cultivation and to level out and pave the front area for a 'pavilion' to be put up.

We wish to record a 'Big Thank Your' to Sin Hock Seng and his 'Prosper Marine' team for the great help given to get ready the ground for us to start up our Community Garden.