What: Sponsorship of four trees (representing RBKD) in Rui En’s name, at East Coast Park, through NParks under the NParks’ Garden City Fund

When: 28 May 2016

Where: East Coast Park

Participants: Allan, Ashley, Ernie, Xinyi, Yanjun, Yanling, Yanping, Yeeling, Yvonne

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Xinyi, Club President:

Planting the trees as a gift has always been our plan since 1.5 years ago. The symbolism of taking roots and growing from strength to strength is the exact message we wish to convey to Rui En, on this milestone year. That of commitment. Planting trees make sense.

But things didn’t go according to plan. The only way we could plant trees in SG (unless you plant it in your backyard), is to go through NParks, but for the past one year, the planting site has always been at the newer townparks which weren’t the most ideal for us.

Thankfully, there was a slot in May to plant trees in East Coast Park, a place Rui En had filmed at frequently. All’s good, and I’ll leave my member to share with you what went on that day. (Speaking of which it was nearly cancelled due to thunderstorm that morning, luckily the skies cleared for us, and we could proceed in the drizzle.)

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Ashley, Participant:

My first time participating in a RBKD activity and was happy to join in such a meaningful one.

We were gathered at a relatively ‘unknown’ point of East Coast Park (Green overhead crossing at Area B) on a light drizzling Saturday morning. There was a brief planting demonstration by the friendly NParks staff, before we ventured out on our own.

We split up in groups of 2-3 pax to plant the 4 trees. The actual tree planting process involved preparing the planting earth by digging the hole deep enough before putting the tree in place, backfilling and compacting. The transferring of the tree into the hole looks most difficult as the tree is quite heavy to handle – thanks to some of the NParks crew who helped out too.

A morning well spent with the nature and RBKD, and hope to return soon to ECP to observe the growth of our 4 RBKD trees.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts, Community