My Redhill Heritage Tour [English] (26 October 2024)

One of the most popular legend of Bukit Merah comes from the Sejarah Melayu, a collection of oral Malay traditions, where a village near Tanjong Pagar suffered from vicious attacks from the shoals of swordfishes. These notorious sea creatures killed and wounded villagers with their sharp noses and threatened their livelihoods. All the plans and efforts of the Raja and his advisors against them came to no avail until a bright young boy came up with a brilliant plan of building a wall of banana tree trunks along the coastline. As the swordfishes found their lance-like noses stuck in the trunks, the villagers hailed the boy as the hero. The jealous King sent his men to kill the village hero. They tracked him down to the top of the hill where he lived, and spilled his blood which ran down the lengths and depths of the hill. And that was how the hill became red and became named Redhill or Bukit Merah.

A less popular myth surrounds the story behind the name of Redhill – that is the myth of Singapore’s own local Taoist folk goddess, Lin Guniang, also known as Lim Kor Niu (Hokkien). According to Huang Yahong, caretaker of Zhen Long Gong where Lin Guniang’s statue is housed, she “lived around the turn of the century [c. 1900] and was married to a sailor who was frequently at sea. A neighbour by the surname of Tan tried to seduce her, but she spurned him. Furious, he framed her for infidelity. She committed suicide to prove her chastity and her spirit kept returning to help needy neighbours. Soon a shrine was erected for her in the Henderson Road area. Some villagers of Redhill believe that it was Lin Guniang’s blood that stained Redhill when she committed suicide, causing the hill to be named after her.

My Redhill Heritage Tour traces both of these legends and introduces participants to the thriving communities who called Redhill home. We will first visit Jalan Tiong and Leng San See, where we meet the temple caretaker who will connect us with the town's riveting history as a burial ground. At the town centre, we will witness her transformation from a self-sustaining village into a modern satellite town.

This tour also includes an exclusive visit to the ground-up paradises at Sprouts Hub and Enabling Village, where we meet the town's community champions and green fingers.

Who should come?

• Everyone is welcome to participate in this tour.

Duration and Meeting Place

• Approximate Duration: 3 hours
• Language: English
• Meeting Point: Redhill MRT Station - Please meet at Exit B, 15 minutes before the start of the tour.
• Ending Point: Redhill Market
• The tour will proceed rain or shine.

What to bring?

• Wear comfortable clothes and suitable shoes.
• Bring along hand sanitiser, insect repellent, EZ-Link card, a bottle of water and an umbrella.
• If you have earphones with a standard 3.5mm audio jack, please bring them along (for radio guides during the tour).
• Asthmatic individuals are encouraged to bring their inhaler.

Other important information

• Please do not sign up for the tour if you are unsure of your schedule. Our volunteers have committed their time to this tour - Your absence is discouraging our volunteers from organising any physical tours.
• You must cancel this ticket if you were unwell and could not turn up.
• Participants who have signed up for the tour but did not turn up will be banned permanently from My Community's future tours.
• Please arrive 15 minutes before the tour for registration.

Disclaimer

• By agreeing to participate in the tour, every participant will be responsible for any injury, loss of damage due to careIessness of other actions on his/her part or that of children under his/her charge.
• It is compulsory for a parent/guardian to accompany any child of or under the age of 12
• Videos and photographs may also be taken during the event. By registering for this event, you give My Community full rights to use the photos for marketing and publicity.

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• Visit mycommunity.org.sg to learn about our initiatives.