Woodlands Trail 2014

On the 11th of February, some Secondary Ones went on an excursion called “Woodlands Trail”. The excursion is basically, like its name, a trail around Woodlands to learn about its HERITAGE & HISTORY. We went to places like Marsiling Market, Woodlands Train Checkpoint, Woodlands Waterfront, Marsiling Community Centre, and Woodlands Town Centre.

As it was our first excursion in Evergreen Sec, we were excited about the event. The facilitators for the event were the Secondary 3 prefects, who did an amazing job explaining to us the significance of the various historical sites. Kudos to them!

Our first destination was the Marsiling Community Centre, for short, (Marsiling CC). The facilitators for that location informed us about how the People’s Association logo looked like: A continuous red line! I learned that the one continuous line symbolizes unity, and connection between every Singaporean to promote a multi-racial society. The red line represents passion and spirit of different communities. I also learnt that community centres play an important role in our society and connects and binds us all together.

Next, we went to the Woodlands Town Centre. The facilitators asked us to compare between the amount of people present at Causeway Point and Woodlands Town Centre. Since Woodlands Town Centre was built in the 1970s, it was popular then. Now, it’s popularity has diminished due to popular shopping centers like Causeway Point.

We were asked about the exchange rate between SGD and currencies of other countries. We were also asked to give suggestions on how to ‘revive’ the Woodlands Town Centre to attract more people. Some of the suggestions that my classmates gave were to repaint it and give it a whole new look. Some suggested having free Wi-Fi Connection to attract youngsters to patronize the shops more.

Our third destination was the Woodlands Train Checkpoint. In the 1920s, Malaysia and Singapore had customs and immigration facilities for rail passengers at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. But later on in 1998, Singapore decided to relocate it to Woodlands. However, Malaysia was unwilling to relocate. Due to this disagreement, there were no boarding facilities available for passengers heading to Malaysia from Singapore at Woodlands, and passengers had to board at the Malaysia checkpoint at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

Last but not least, we went to Woodlands Waterfront. We learnt about the

Causeway and after hearing about our facilitators’ presentation, I realized that if we didn’t have the Causeway, we couldn’t travel to Malaysia to visit our relatives during Chinese New Year, and Singapore couldn’t have trade between Singapore and Malaysia. That made me realise that we have been taking the Causeway for granted. Have you ever wondered what would happen if there was no Causeway?

After learning about the Causeway, we went to the Jetty to enjoy the sea breeze,and panoramic view of the sea. We took a class photo with the help of our Secondary 3 seniors.

Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we were unable to go and patronize the Marsiling Market. But nevertheless, we had a lot of fun. The Secondary 3 prefects also did their best to help us juniors, and we are very grateful for their help. They were great! I will definitely encourage the sec 1s to go for Woodlands Trail 2015! And all the best to the presenters next year as well!