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Are you or were you a scout from Raffles Institution (regardless of 01 or 02)?
If yes, you can get your own free @raffles-scouts.sg email account! (Account is powered by Google for not-for-profits.) Here's the link:
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Reported by Mr Lee Chiu San.
Professor Wee Yeow Chin, who was a Scout in Raffles Institution during the 1950s, revealed some shocking secrets in a talk given to members of the Raffles Chapter of the Scouts’ Guild and their guests on September 21. He told tales of infidelity, marriages of convenience, tantrum-throwing, gold-digging wives and multiple sex partners – among birds. Though qualified as a botanist, and having retired as a lecturer in botany at the National University of Singapore, Prof. Wee became fascinated by birds when Crows started nesting near his home. He watched the interplay of Crows and their brood parasites, the Asian Koels (a species of large cuckoo) and was intrigued by how the male Koel would provoke the pair of Crows to chase him. During the distraction, the female Koel would sneak into the Crows’ nest to lay an egg. This would hatch earlier than the Crow eggs, and the Koel chick would quickly dump the Crow eggs out of the nest. Prof. Wee started a website, the Bird Ecology Study Group (http://www.besgroup.org/) which quickly became one of the most popular ornithological websites in Asia, garnering over a million and a half unique hits. The intention, he said, was not just to record the numbers and species of birds, but to allow those with interest in the subject to exchange information on the behaviour of birds in their daily lives, because only by knowing what birds do can we really get to know them. This website quickly became an active forum in which enthusiasts posted their avian pictures, videos and observations. The information within it is kept current, and attractive, through the efforts of a pool of about 400 active voluntary contributors. During his talk, Prof. Wee spoke of how Weaver Finch males had to build elaborate nests to attract females. And if the ladies were not impressed with what they saw, they did not hesitate to literally trash the poor guy’s efforts. He showed photos of Barbet females who demanded pay before they would play. If the males did not feed them, they would not consent to mate. Prof. Wee also mentioned that just because birds had paired up did not mean that they did not sneak off for affairs outside. DNA tests had shown that very often, not all the babies in a brood had been fathered by the male of the pair. After regaling the audience with more stories in this vein, Prof. Wee joined the attendees and their guests (who included RI staff, and members from other Chapters of the Guild) in a networking session in the school canteen. When he was active in Scouting, Prof. Wee had been a tester in Woodcraftsman skills. After the Separation of Singapore from Malaysia, when the Singapore Branch of the Malayan Nature Society decided to become a separate organisation, Prof. Wee was the Founding President of the Nature Society of Singapore. He is also the author of several popular books on botany. These include: · Plants that Heal, Thrill and Kill. · An Illustrated Dictionary of Chinese Medicinal Herbs. · Tropical Trees and Shrubs, a selection for Urban Planning. · Ferns in the Tropics. Prof Wee and Mrs Wee join RI Chapter President Christopher Ng (left) and Committee Member Kong Hoe Leong in the networking session. In the foreground are K. C. Tsang, a bird photographer and contributor to his site, and (back to camera) James Tow. The RI Chapter of the Scout Guild is organising a talk for the Chapter and will be inviting students and teachers to participate in this event.
The word “cuckold” comes from “cuckoo” which outsources child rearing to other species. Some birds pay for sex. No food, no love. Females of our local weaver birds are even worse. Males build nests like crazy to impress them, because a male without real estate hasn’t any hope with these birds. Some parrot females are two-timing, and live off more than one male. Do you know that birds use ants to clean their feathers and others cast pellets of bones, feathers and other indigestible materials from the prey they swallow? Learn all this and more from Professor Wee Yeow Chin Details of this event: Date: 21st Sep 2013 Saturday Time: 2.00 to 5.00pm Talk Topic: The Secret Life of Birds Speaker: Prof Wee Yeow Chin Exact Location: Yusof Ishak Seminar Room 3, 1 Raffles Institution Lane 575954 At the 4th Annual General Meeting of the Singapore Scout Guild, Raffles Institution Chapter held on Saturday, 18th May, 2013, the following office bearers were elected for 2013/2014:
Patron - Prof Tommy Koh Chairman - Christopher Ng Toong Seng Vice Chairmen - Kiew Won Lee, Kong Hoe Leong Secretary - Frank Lee Treasurer - Lam Peck Heng Committee Members - Chee Keng Yam. Lee Chiu San, Leong Cheng Chit Roney Tan WORLD SCOUT DAY DINNER – Saturday, 23rd February, 2013 Singapore scouts celebrated World Scout Day with a dinner organised by the Singapore Scout Guild at Scout Headquarters of Saturday, 23rd February, 2013. The sit-down Chinese dinner saw 40 tables being taken up by various scout groups. The Guest-of-Honour was prominent Singapore lawyer and ex-Raffles scout Satpal Khattar. Satpal was a Raffles scout in the 1950’s and to his surprise many of his contemporaries were at the gathering to meet up and talk to him. All of us present had an enjoyabe evening, meeting up old scout friends and even decided to join the Raffles Chapter and endeavour to participate in our future activities. Of course, Raffles Chapter welcome one and all, the more the merrier. Photographs below show some of the old Raffles scouts present at the dinner . Raffles Chapter will try to plan and support scouting activities. Gatherings to renew acquaintances and sessions to promote nostalgic memories will always attract old Raffles scouts. Shield for best support for World Scout Day was presented by Satpal Khattar (GOH) to Christopher Ng (Chairman, Raffles Chapter)
(INAUGURATED AT SCOUT GUILD A.G.M. ON 26TH MAY, 2012) At the Singapore Scout Guild Annual General Meeting held on 26th May, 2012, past minutes and matters arising were discussed and approved. New office bearers for the period 2012/2013 were duly elected. At the same time, it was announced that the RAFFLES INSTITUTION CHAPTER has been awarded the ACTIVE SCOUT GUILD CHAPTERS CHALLENGE SHIELD for the period 2011/2012.
The Singapore Scout Guild proposed and introduced a scheme to encourage and recognise Guild Chapters that are active during the year. The scheme is based on the following criteria: 1. Chapter membership growth 2. Attendance at Guild Management Meetings 3. Support for activities of the Guild and the Singapore Scout Association 4. Chapter activities. Three energetic and young-at-heart folks participated in the hike today. We had expected more participants but a few dropped out at the last moment. I guess today was Vesak and some had family commitments. The weather was excellent. The sky was clouded but there was no rain. The starting point of our hike was Punggol MRT Stn. From there we headed north to Punggol Waterway. This joins the Punggol River on the west to Serangoon River on the east. The walk along the waterway towards the Punggol River was pleasant. Although the Punggol area has seen much development during the last few years, we hardly see any buildings along the waterway. When we reached Punggol River, we turned north. Punggol River is now a reservoir and there is a barrage at the river mouth. As we headed north along the coast we reached Punggol Marina, which is a yacht club. The club was too tempting for us not to go in to have a look. There is a large seafood restaurant in the club but it was too early for us to have lunch. So, we ordered tea and coffee and sat down to enjoy ourselves. A young couple who were at the next table were surprised to learn that we oldies had walked from the MRT stn. to the club. We sat there for an hour and decided to head towards the LRT to catch a train back. But the LRT was not in operation and we followed the line back to Punggol MRT Stn. From the station we went to Serangoon and had lunch at the shopping mall. Hoe Leong kindly hosted the lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike. It was a good occasion for fellowship and to learn about the development in the area. We remembered Punggol in the old days as an undeveloped village and Punggol Point as a place for good seafood and surfing. But it has now changed. Any other place for our next hike? Cheng Chit |
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