With the advancement and economic development of our society, many of the trades that were common in Singapore are fast disappearing. The younger generation who want to know more about these trades practised by the older the generation may find it difficult to gather relevant information on the subject. This is because there is a dearth of reading materials on these tradesmen, the intricacies, skills and parapthernalia essential to these trades.

Therefore, we decided to work together as a group to try our best to gather information from various sources, for example, books, internet, cd-roms etc. and present what we had done for our research into this website.

Some of the interviewees had already passed away. Some of the trades no longer exist. The rest of the tradesmen, however, face the prospect of ahving to terminate their business one day. This could be due to factors like the lack of successors to take over their business, or a combination of a few other factors.

The tales of seemingly ordinary people are actually bits and pieces that make up our history. By gathering these bits and pieces, we can better reflect upon our past customs and lifestyles. From the interviews, we get to understand the hardships our ancestors went through in their fight for survival; how they contributed to the country's prosperity. They had their moments of joy and glory. They had their golden age. However, why did these trades succumb to the tides of time? These are issues of our heritage that we need to ponder about... ...