SINGAPORE.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Singapore Swimming Club, Official Opening of New Club House, Souvenir Programme. First edition, celebrating the construction of a new wing to the clubhouse and the opening of their first dedicated swimming pool. It charts the history of the club from a single hut on the shoreline to an established organisation, including a list of club presidents and a table of membership statistics. We have traced only one copy, at the National Library of Singapore.The club was set up in 1893 by a small group of Europeans who wished to learn sea swimming. Over the following decades it continued to grow, opening a club house in 1904 and a car park in 1918, and admitting women in 1923. Its expansion in 1936 cost $275,000 and was designed to accommodate a membership of 3,000 people. This souvenir programme records many smaller details of the club's history as well, from noting how it was particularly supported by the German population in its early years, to the loss of many members during the First World War, and the installation of electric lighting in 1922. There is an extended section on the swimming pool, detailing its planning, cost, water supply, and construction.

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