HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Use this section for Naval Shore Bases overseas
User avatar
oldsalt
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:08 pm
Location: Plymouth

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by oldsalt »

was the Britannia Club previously known as the Nuffield Club? If you wanted all night leave in Singapore in 1953 you were required to show a bed ticket from the Nuffield.
User avatar
Little h
Posts: 1727
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:53 pm

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by Little h »

oldsalt wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2020 6:15 pm was the Britannia Club previously known as the Nuffield Club? .........................
The NAAFI Britannia Club
In some ways, Beach Road Camp and the legacy of the SVC have been overshadowed by the NAAFI Britannia Club next door: the siren call of beer, swimming and billiards, among the club’s other comforts, being louder than the call to take up arms. For the British armed forces personnel who served in Singapore in the 1950s and 60s, the Britannia Club was where some of their fondest memories of Singapore were forged.

The club was declared open on 17 December 1952 by Malcolm MacDonald, the British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia. “The Far East’s most luxurious club for the British fighting forces of land, sea and air” was what the Singapore Free Press reported on its opening day. The clubhouse took 14 months and $1.275 million to build – which was no small change at the time.4 Members of the SVC benefited too as they were allowed access to the club.

The building was funded by the British Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), which at its peak operated recreational clubs, food and beverage outlets, shops and supermarkets wherever British servicemen and their families were stationed.

The old NAAFI Shackle Club, likely located where the War Memorial Park stands today, had clearly outgrown itself by this time, and a more sophisticated recreational club was needed for the thousands of British servicemen and their families living in Singapore, as well as for visiting Allied forces who called in from time to time.5 With the SVC headquarters next door, the elegant Raffles Hotel opposite and a prime downtown spot facing the shimmering sea beyond, deciding on the location of the new club must have been an easy one.

In fact, Nuffield Swimming Pool – named after the British philanthropist and founder of Morris Motors Company, Lord Nuffield – had been completed a year before the clubhouse was ready and became the focal point of the building. It was one of Singapore’s first Olympic-sized pools, at 50 m long and 20 m wide. The pool was lined with green-and-white mosaic tiles and was framed by a grass verge lined with multicoloured umbrellas. A children’s paddling pool and fountain were located at one end, but most striking of all was the set of three diving boards, perched 3-, 9- and 15-ft above the surface of the glistening pool.6

The three-storey clubhouse created quite a stir when it first opened. Designed by the Hong Kong-based British architectural firm Palmer & Turner, the post-war Modernist structure with its rust-coloured tiled façade and pitched green roof was a bold counterpoint to the Victorian-style Raffles Hotel opposite.

Source; excerpt above is from a very intersting article titled - From Britannia to the NCO Club - in BIBLIOASIA website

___________________________________________________________________________________

Forum members might also like to read the various pages from each of the menu headings - The Nuffield Trust for Forces of the Crown Supporting the men and women of our Armed Forces


Origins

The Nuffield Trust for the Forces of the Crown was founded by the late Lord Nuffield in 1939. On the 27th May of that year he wrote to the then Secretary of State for War:

"... I am anxious to make some personal contribution towards the comfort and well-being of those who are giving up their home surroundings in the service of our country. For this purpose I intend to place in the hands of Trustees one million shares in Morris Motors, of a present value of approximately £1.5 millions, yielding today an income of some £105,000 per annum to be devoted towards improving the facilities for... the Forces, at the discretion of the Trustees. I intend this gift to be a permanent memorial to the spirit which animates us today."

Continues at The Nuffield Trust website - IMO a most informative and sometimes memory jogging read.
Little h
User avatar
DaveH
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:58 pm
Location: PLYMOUTH , DEVON

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by DaveH »

The "Brit" along with the RAF Seletar Club a Jalan Kayu were probably the two most popular Families Clubs during the 60's . I know we frequented one or the other weekly . Living in Serangoon Garden Village was the closest to Jalan Kayu where there was a great Fish & Chip Shop .
User avatar
Little h
Posts: 1727
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:53 pm

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by Little h »

DaveH wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 3:19 pm The "Brit" along with the RAF Seletar Club a Jalan Kayu were probably the two most popular Families Clubs during the 60's . I know we frequented one or the other weekly . Living in Serangoon Garden Village was the closest to Jalan Kayu where there was a great Fish & Chip Shop .
Yep ... not to mention the magnificent 'Chusan' bar & restaurant at the end of our street Jalan Selaseh in Seletar Hills Estate - happy days ye olde Ch. Tel
Little h
User avatar
DaveH
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:58 pm
Location: PLYMOUTH , DEVON

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by DaveH »

Agreed Harry ....... The Chusan was always our second choice after the "Captain's Cabin" in Serangoon ....... best for Ice Cream and Pancakes was the "Copper Kettle" alongside the Families Surgery in Serangoon and we had a pretty good Cinema as well . Vivid memories all nearly 60 years on .
User avatar
oldsalt
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:08 pm
Location: Plymouth

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by oldsalt »

Nee Soon was our run ashore in 53, I still have faded Jhonny Ghurka tattoos.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9743
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: HMS Terror and Singapore Naval Base

Unread post by Pelican »

Singapore by Brompton | Sembawang: Colonial villages, hot springs and goreng pisang keju

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJqBi-kfryE&t=417s
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Overseas Shore Bases - Royal Navy”