P.S. Stargazing Tonight!

*IMPORTANT*

1) Participants below the age of 18 are to be accompanied by a parent/guardian for the trip.

2) Participants below the age of 21 are to have their indemnity forms signed by a parent/guardian. (See disclaimer below)

INTRODUCTION

Semakau Island is situated 7 km south west of Singapore, near the Raffles Lighthouse.  The island is a landfill operated by the National Environmental Agency (NEA).  The only access to the island is by boat from Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal (about 20-minute journey). Currently permission to visit the island is granted only to specific organisations and groups with special interests such as nature tours, fishing and astronomy.  TASOS has conducted many observations at Semakau as the island offers a clear and unobstructed view of the sky. For reasons of logistics, overnight stay on the island is required.

DETAILS

Date: 8^th – 9^th September 2012
Time: Report at 3.45pm. End at 10am 9^th September
Mode of Transport: Bus and Ferry
Cost: $50 for Passion Card Members, $55 for Non-Passion Card Members

ITINERARY

Time	Activity	Remarks
8th September
3.45 pm	Assemble at Jurong Spring CC	The bus will leave sharply at 4pm.
4.30 pm	Meet at Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal	Participants who prefer to meet at Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal should assemble at 4.30 pm sharp.
5.00 pm	Ferry departs for Semakau Island	Ferry will leave sharply at 5.
5.20 pm	Arrival at Semakau Island Admin Building
5.30 pm	Education talk by NEA	Introduction about the Landfill
6.15 pm	Bus trip to observation site
7.00 pm	Star-gazing begins + free and easy	A BBQ dinner will be provided by Jurong Spring YEC. TASOS will set up a few Telescope and Binoculars. (Quarter moon are expected to rise at 12am)
As agreed	Shower and sleep[1]	One or two trips will be provided by NEA back to main admin building. You can opt to spend the night at the admin building or observation site.
9th September
7.00 am	Bus trip back to Admin Building	Simple Breakfast will be provided by Jurong Spring YEC
8.30 am	Depart from Semakau Island
9.00 am	Arrive at Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal	Bus will be chartered back to Jurong Spring CC only

---

[1] There are proper toilet and shower facilities (no water heater) at the Main Admin Building which is about 4 km away from the observation site.  The observation site has very basic (limited) shelter and toilet facilities.

²Arrangement would be made for 1 or 2 trips (mini-bus provided by NEA) to and from the Main Admin Building during the night for

those who may want to go back to the Main Admin Building to sleep or freshen up etc. There are no beds or mattresses at the Main Admin Building, so please bring a sleeping bag.

THINGS TO BRING

Complusory Items:

· Wear suitable attire for cool weather

· Ground sheets

· Water bottle

· Bring a clean set of clothing and toiletries

· Sleeping bag (Centralized air-con in admin building, therefore Sleeping bag is strong recommended)

o Tents are advised for participants who intend to sleep at the observation site. Jurong Spring YEC will provide tents for rental at $4 each. Each tent can accommodate 4 participants. (Limited stocks only) Participants may inform the organizing committee prior to the events to make sure there is enough for people who want.

Optional Items:

· Snacks

· Insect Repellent

· Personal medication

· Other things you need to make yourself comfortable and happy

QUESTIONS & FEEDBACK

Feel free to ask any questions with regards to the trip and the organizer will be more than happy to answer their queries. Participants may communicate their questions or feedback through this channel:

1)      Jurong Spring CC Counter

2)      Email: main.jsyec@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER

Participants below the age of 21 years must have their indemnity form duly signed by a parent/guardian. In an event where the indemnity form is not signed, the organizer has the right to reject the participants with no refund of any amount. Slots are available on a first come first serve basis. Due to logistics issues, participants will have to join us on our future trips shall the slots be fully occupied. The success of the event depends greatly on the weather. In the event of incremental weather, there will be no refunds of any amount before or after the event as the cost would have been incurred. The organizer will take reasonable care to the participants. However, in the event of unfortunate times when an accident were to happen, the organizer will not bear any responsibilities and any claims will be subjected to the maximum cap by the insurance that the organizer had purchase for the participant.

Interested participants, please register ONLINE at http://goo.gl/UDQ7V or drop by Jurong Spring CC! We look forward to seeing you!

Closing date: 17th August 2012

JSCC Open House!

Jurong Spring Community Club (JSCC) conducted its annual open house last Sunday (10 June 2012). The Youth Club joined in the fun with our interest groups showcase, performance and publicising of our upcoming events too!

 

This was our main booth to publicise our club. If you 'like' our Facebook page on that day, you would get a FREE notebook and stand a chance to win GV movie vouchers!

One of our upcoming events, P.S. Stargazing tonight! Do register if you are interested (event details below).

 

Our JK pop dance interest group booth and their wonderful performance!

The open house attracted about 2000 residents (Straits Times, 10 June 2012) and we had the honor of having Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and our Grassroot advisor Mr. Desmond Lee to join us in this important event. During the open house, JSCC announced its upgrading works and revealed the new Jurong Spring logo.

DPM Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam (right) and Our Grassroot advisor Mr. Desmond Lee (left) looking at some of the booths that we have set up.

If you missed the open house last Sunday and want to know more about YEC and our events/activities, visit our Facebook Page (remember to 'like' us too)!

Upcoming activities:
Do you have a flair for photography or an interest in star gazing? If you do, join us for our travel photography talk with Willy Foo on 1st July and P.S. Stargazing Tonight! on 8-9 September :))

Travel Photography talk by Willy Foo

P.S. Stargazing Toight!

Simply log on to our online portal or proceed down to JSCC to register with our friendly staffs.

If none of our upcoming events interest you, check out our interest groups then! Most of them has activities brewing :))

Photography | Jk pop dance | V2 Scheme | Reading | Down to Earth | Balloon |

Project Down-To-Earth

 Members from the Project Down-to-Earth with Eddie, our wonderful tour guide for the day.

A Visit to a Kampung in Singapore

When is the last time you have visited a kampung in Singapore? For a group of us from Jurong Spring Youth Executive Committee (YEC), we did so a week ago. Ground-Up Initiative (GUI), a volunteer-driven non-profit community organisation, held a carnival at Bottle Tree Park to allow visitors to celebrate and reconnect with our roots, and also to discover the importance of the community spirit.

Our group was very fortunate to have two guides, Eddie and Kim, to share with us the process of starting an urban farm in a small plot of land. More interestingly, they spent a short five months to convert a small plot of flat land into a thriving urban garden with more than twenty to thirty species of herbs, vegetables and flowers. Their efforts exemplified the community spirit, where people from different generations come together to do things together and realize dreams to fruition.

Kim shared that gardening is not only about planting and harvesting crops but also about build relationships among people. “Relationship is a key component to the building of any community, and this project allows people of different generations to come together to build that sort of relationship”, she said.

Also, GUI embarked on many wonderful innovations to make gardening more simple, fun, and easy. We were shown “flower pots” made entirely out of recycled PET bottles that are not only airtight; they also require minimal maintenance

This trip down to the northern part of Singapore is indeed fruitful and helped us realign our direction in Project Down-to-Earth. We share common motives of bringing different generations together, building bonds and strengthening ties within the community. In future, we hope to implement some of what GUI has pioneered to spread the “green message” in our community for a sustainable future.

About Project Down-to-Earth

Project Down-to-Earth is an interest group under the Jurong Spring Community Centre Youth Club where a group of like-minded youth explores ways to reconnect back to nature. One of the projects is the use of non soil-based method of growing vegetables in the Community Centre. The intention is to make gardening simple, clean, and easy for everyone. If you are interested to know more about the project or explore ways of growing vegetables in our concrete jungle, please do not hesitate to contact the interest group at project.down.to.earth@gmail.com.

YEC Retreat 2012: We are off to Kukup, Malaysia!

Over past weekend, members of YEC and our advisor Mr. Desmond Lee threw all our worries from work and school, grabbed our backpacks and passport for our annual retreat at Kukup, Malaysia!
Kukup is a small and beautiful fishing village about 2 hours drive from Singapore. The villagers earn a living through fishing and life is simple there, a perfect short getaway for busy Singaporeans. If you haven't been there, don't be disappointed! We have lots of pictures to share :)


Nice scenery from Kukup and the sunrise and sunset. Enjoy!

Other than the nice scenery, we were REALLY well-fed by the villagers there. Sumptuous seafood lunch was served barely an hour after we reach Kukup. In mid-afternoon, the villager cooked fried beehoon and Curry for our tea and by the night we had delicious BBQ seafood!


Look at those guys, eating so happily :)

On our first day at Kukup, we had some bonding games after tea. Games on teamwork between members through untying tangled string, Charades, draw-something and also show your love and hatred for your commarades through the water bomb fight!!!


Look at how everyone is enjoying and laughing together. And check out some picture drawn from the draw-something game. Can you guess what are they drawing? Leave your guess in the comments!

The day passed by in a flash while everyone was having fun. After dinner, we gathered for a nice firework display by our neighbouring household .

We write our wishes and hope that our message is delivered  to the deties in the sky.

Writing our wishes for the year and nice fireworks from our tourist neighbours!

The next morning we went for a nice visit to a fish farm and this calls the end of our retreat. Some group photos here together with our nice little fish farm trip.



Everyone was tired after the trip but we had tremendous fun. Where shall we go for our next retreat then? I can't wait for it!

~Youth Excutive Committee. Make it Happen.~

Project A*

Project A-STAR (A*) is a pilot initiative by JSCCYEC to provide a conducive environment for students to study in especially during the exam period.

To realise our aim of this project, we have worked with various zone RCs to bring the venue closer to home. Don't even worry about getting hungry after hours of working your brain cells as light snacks and drinks would be provided for you.

Our first session was held back in April and if you have missed it, NO WORRIES! We have planned to have another session up in November! Keep yourself updated with this event by following our Blog, Facebook and even Posters around your estate!

Do come by to support us in November and we wish you pass your exams with flying colours and many many A-STARS!

Project SPRING Cleaning

Ching Gay 2012