Birth of a Church - by Ong Boon Hor
See also [From St Andrew's School Chapel to the Church of the Ascension] by Mr Yee Teck Peng.
Historical records show that the creation of Ascension was very much related to the staff, teachers and pupils of St Andrew’s School and St Andrew’s House. This is a brief account of how Church of the Ascension came into existence.
Before the present
Ascension building was erected…
In
1909, the Diocese of Singapore was established as a separate unit from the joint
diocese known as “Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak”.
It continued to oversee St Andrew’s School especially in the area of
school siting and building. The
Diocese also appointed principals to the school, one of whom was Rev Canon R K S
Adams (shown on the right).
Appointed on 1 October 1934, Canon Adams turned out to be a major
instrument of God in the birth of Ascension.
(Note:
Canon Adams retired, as Principal of the school, to Adelaide in 1956
after 29 years of service. He was
in captivity during the Japanese Occupation.)
Shortly after Canon Adams took over as principal of the school, plans were drawn up to rebuild the aging school, boarding house and chapel buildings on a 4-acre piece of land on then Government Hill with a frontage facing Stamford Road. This site had been in use since 14 February 1875. (The school had started in Chin Chew Street in the 1850s before moving to Upper Hokkien Street on 10 September 1863. A few years later, it moved to Victoria Street before settling more permanently at the Government Hill site. The school had to use progressively bigger buildings as enrolment increased, by God’s grace.)
Through
personal ties between Archdeacon Graham White (shown
on the left) and then Chief Secretary of the government, Sir Andrew
Caldecott, the school was offered the choice of 2 new sites for
re-location instead. One site was along Tanjong Katong Road.
The other site was on Serangoon Road, next to then Serangoon Post
Office. However, engineering
investigations revealed that the favoured 12-acre Serangoon site could not
sustain buildings without enormous expense. Apparently, God had other plans.
(Note: Archdeacon Graham White and his wife died in captivity during the Japanese Occupation.)
How
Ascension came to be at Woodsville…
Through the perseverance of Archdeacon Graham White, however, the school was offered a third site in December 1937. By God’s plans, this was the larger 18.5-acre Woodsville Estate. In early 1938, the site was bought at the cost of $60,000. On 8 April 1938, the Bishop and Archdeacon led the entire school in a ceremony of thanksgiving at the site. The lesson from Genesis chapter 13v14-17 was read by Chaplain Rev Parr, as the Bishop blessed the site. The new school building was officially opened on 29 July 1940 but Ascension had not been born yet.
(Note: Chaplain Rev Parr was captured during the Japanese Occupation to work on the infamous Death Railway where he died on 24 June 1943.)
When the school gave up its Stamford Road site, its boarding house (St Andrew’s House) was re-located to an old house at the Woodsville site. This house, shown below, was built by a R C Woods in 1866.
After the Japanese Occupation, St Andrew’s House was re-opened on 13 January 1947 as Canon Adams was released from captivity to continue being the school principal again. Mr Francis Thomas was the Housemaster. In 1955, the House moved out of the R C Woods house into its present building. Soon after, the R C Woods house was demolished. On the site, a brand new church called the Church of the Ascension was built. The primary purpose of the new church was to be a place of worship for both the school and the boarding house. The Church of the Ascension was dedicated on 31 May 1962.
There is a memorial plaque in the Church of the Ascension in honour of those who laid down their lives during the Japanese Occupation. Do you know where it is?
Why did God choose Woodsville as the site for the Church of the Ascension?
As this brief account was being prepared, the writer had a heavy impression that Ascension should bring its links with the school and boarding house that played a major role in its birth some 38 years ago, to a higher level.
This
article is contributed by Ong Boon Hor on 26 June 2000. Photographs and much of the
information used in the preparation of this article comes from the book "A
Short History of SAINT ANDREW'S SCHOOL 1862-1962" by Daniel Kovilpillai.
If you have any comments or more information on our past that you'd like to share with us, please drop us an email!
HERE'S MORE!
After this story was
published, we received the following article from Mr Yee Teck Peng, one of our
long time Ascensionaires. Teck Peng is a tremendous source of information on our
past - particularly on St Andrew's School and Rugby in Singapore! Here's his
contribution:
[From
St Andrew's School Chapel to the Church of the Ascension]
1946
ST
ANDREW'S SCHOOL (SAS), at Woodsville, was the first Christian School to
re-open to take in pupils after Japan surrendered to the ALLIED FORCES in the
WORLD WAR II in 1945.
ST
ANDREW'S SCHOOL held weekly Holy Communion services every Wednesday at
7.00 a.m. (school started at 8.00 a.m.), in the school chapel, for Christian
teachers, pupils and those living near the school. The
Chapel was the size of about 2 ½ classrooms, in the then 2-level SAS.
The Wednesday Holy Communion Services were celebrated by Rev R.K.S. Adams,
(later Canon Adams), Principal of SAS and Rev Dr D.D. Chelliah
(later Archdeacon Canon Chelliah), Supervisor of St Andrew's Continuation
School and Secretary of the Diocesan Education Board.
1947
ST
ANDREW'S (BOARDING) HOUSE
re-opened to take in boarders mainly from the
Southeast Asian region. St. Andrew’s House was the huge wooden bungalow built
by Mr.R.C. Woods in 1866, owner of the estate, hence the name “WOODSVILLE”,
not because it was ‘wooded’.
House
boys who were confirmed members of the Church of England
(now known as the Anglican Church) attended the Wednesday Holy Communion
services. Many were also servers in the school Chapel. Mrs. Cheong Hock Hai (nee
Tan Chwee Neo), a SAS teacher, faithfully provided the flowers which I collected
from her home in Leicester Road, arranged them into 2 silver vases and placed
them on the alter.
On
Sundays, houseboys were the choirboys for the ST ANDREW'S
CATHEDRAL 10.00 am SERVICE.
This continued up to about 1950/51 (?). In the evenings, all Houseboys, (about
50-60) must attend the Evening Service in the Chapel, conducted by the
Housemasters.
It was
around this period - 1949/50? - that
Rev RKS Adams and Rev Dr DD Chelliah felt that there was a need to have a Sunday
Holy Communion Service in the School Chapel to serve the Christians living near
the school and St Andrew's House boys.
By God's
plan, in 1952, St Andrew's School added a new floor to make the building 3
levels and also built the ‘Lim Teck Hin’ Tower. The new Chapel now moved to
the 3rd-level above the ‘old’.
Encouraged
by the growth of the congregation of ST ANDREW'S SCHOOL
CHAPEL and fired by the Holy Spirit, senior members of the congregation
felt that the time was reap to grow from CHAPEL to CHURCH. These were some
members of the family – The Adams, Chelliah, Thomas, Holloway, Brett, Cheong,
Labrooy, and many, many more.
195(?)
HALLELUJAH
- A NEW CHURCH WAS BORN
After
the morning Holy Communion Service during the “Ascension” week or was it on
Ascension Day itself, of 195? or was it the AGM? at breakfast in the Adams
Quadrangle, THE
ST ANDREW'S SCHOOL CHAPEL, on
the top of the hillock of WOODSVILLE,
was renamed THE
CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION on
the recommendation of Canon Adams.
Now the members set their minds to build a new home for our God. In April 1956, St Andrew's House moved to its new building at the back of St Andrew's School. The old St Andrew's House site was the best location in Woodsville to build our new Church. With God's help, the congregation set out passionately to raise funds to build The Church Of The Ascension.
(This was as far as I got in my unfinished work, presented now in its original draft, dates etc not checked, started in June 1997. Yee Teck Peng. 26th June 2000.)