Happy Birthday Singapore and Farewell Kallang Stadium!

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National Day Parade, Preview (29 July 2006)

The National Stadium will be put to sleep after it braces itself for the final time on the 9 of August 2006 for the nation’s 41st NDP celebrations. 33 years after it first opened for the 7th Seap Games, it will be replaced by a new sports hub in 2010 in time for the Sea Games in 2011.

Clare and I went to the stadium for the last time for the NDP Preview last Saturday to capture the final snippets of the place before it plough its way for the bull dozer. Kallang MRT station was full of red devils as we arrived. Both of us came to watch the parade after a hard day of work on a Saturday. The walk to the stadium was long and queuing time to enter the stadium was even longer. Neverthess, the wait was well worth the effort we spent.

I was never a NDP fan until I was directly involved in it during my NS days in 2000/01. The amount of effort and time put forward by the various participants was enormous in order to make it a thorough success. Since then, watching the parade became a yearly affair and I was privileged to be given an opportunity to witness the final NDP at the National Stadium.

While criticisms have flooded over the same routines year after year (like the SAF red lions free fall), it was nevertheless interesting this year. The fireworks that accompanied the music were the most spectacular as far as I could remember. Seated close to the fireworks, we were hiding beneath our umbrellas as we witness the fireworks that took place directly above our heads.

As we stood up for the national anthem for the final time towards the end of the show, it made me feel proud to be a true blue Singaporean. The atmosphere was great during the preview and I believe that it will be better on the 9th August.

Happy Birthday Singapore and Farewell Kallang Stadium!

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Comments

[Nuttyazn]

NDP
Nice Pics. I took part in 2 NDPs - in 1970 and 1971 as part of the NNCC Band. It really is quite a different feeling once you are standing out there. During those days, it was held in the Padang.