The Institute of Parks and Recreation (Singapore) was founded in 1978 with Mr Wong Yew Kwan HonFIPR(S'pore) as the first President. It is a non profit making professional organization for individuals who come from government and private organizations, representing parks, recreation, amenity, cultural, leisure and related services. Now in its 28th year, the focus of the institute has broadened to include a wider range of recreational professional concerns reflecting the evolving nature of the industry.

The traditional role of IPR(S'pore) has related to development, management and maintenance of parks with special emphasis on horticulture. We need to note, however, that the traditional contexts of parks and recreation are changing. One prominent example is increasing public interest in leisure activities.


It is clear that IPR(S'pore) should still have as its focus the development, management and maintenance of parks with special emphasis on horticulture, but that there is now a need to expand our mission to also include related areas of activity in the leisure-recreation area. Only in this way will IPR(S'pore) develop, expand and remain relevant to the needs of members and Singapore. The IPR(S'pore) will become a strengthened organization with broader mandate and representation.

Within this context, the focus of the IPR(S'pore) Council seeks to expand and develop the institute, where long-term success will depend on:

• a full program of interesting, relevant and attractive activities to sustain and expand membership;
• regular council meeting together with supportive sub-committee meetings which report to council; and,
• regular communication with members to keep them informed and involved in the institute

Council is dedicated to developing IPR(S'pore) and enhancing the benefits of membership. Council is open and welcomes suggestions on activities and any other matters relevant to the institute. We also welcome members in general to serve on our Sub-committees so that you may become involved in the success of the institute.

IPR (S'PORE) Newsletter November 2008

MESSAGE FROM MARIA BOEY IPR PRESIDENT 2008 / 2009

Dear Members and Friends

Welcome to our IPR Website. 2008 is fast passing by. 

IPR Council has agreed to waive the registration fees for new Fellow, Trade, Ordinary and Associate Members to encourage more new members. Indeed, we managed to have a few Ordinary (individual) and trade members.

Our past events and participation are:

1) Dinner talk on 4th Mar. 08 by World Re-known Japanese Landscape Architect,.  Mr. Miyake  on “Japanese Open Space and Recreation”.

2) Singapore Garden Festival:25th July – 1 Aug.08 Organised by NParks .The Festival has been extremely successful and had attracted over 300,000 visitors from local and overseas. So much had be accomplished by the Government in promoting Singapore as our “City in the Garden” . The public is more aware of  the “Greening of Singapore”. IPR is given a complimentary booth and many had visited us. We would like to thank Peter Tan, our Council member , for displaying our IPR Panels. Our new Ordinary members, Cythnia Chin and Sindy Tay, were at the booth promoting herbal drinks and Lavendar Pillow respectively. For myself, I spent the whole of Sun. 27/7/08 meeting people at the booth and went around to meet vendors to encourage to join IPR. There is so much in the Festival  that I returned a few times to the Festival to appreciate the beauty of the displays especially for Award winning Landscape Designs. IPR thanked NParks for their kind generiosity in giving us tickets which were given to members and the booth.

3) Sun. 14th – Fri. 19th Sept. 08: IFPRA ASIA PACIFIC CONGRESS 2008:Meeting Connections. The Congress was attended by over 300 participants from mainly Australia and New Zealand as it was jointly organized with the New Zealand Recreation Association. I paid for my registration, flight and accommodation to attend as I was appointed World Commissioner for Singapore by IFPRA.  The Major of Christchurch was the Guest of Honour for the Welcome Reception and he also opened the Congress. Not surprisingly, he wanted Christchurch to be “A City in the Garden”!  It looked like many cities are going green which are good signs for a better, healthy and ecological world. There were many papers presented about the environment and a lady spoke on the climate change affecting New Zealand as she was chosen to work with Al Gore on influencing Governments to “go green” and sustainable.

4) Clean and Green Singapore: 1st – 3rd Oct 08: PUB, NPark  and NEA took centre-stage in organizing  this event with the opening of the Marine Barrage.An interesting  Gallery with the history of Singapore and its water,usage and  ABC Plan is a must see place when you visit the Barrage which is linked to East Coast Park.

IPR will be organizing the following coming events:

Please do make an effort to keep in touch by coming to the events planned specially for you.

1. Sun. 29th Nov. 08, 10am. :Visit to the Butterfly Park, Sentosa. Each member will be given a complementary ticket from IPR (worth $10) for entry to enjoy the Butterflies and Insect Kingdom in the mini-Park. Please see attached for details.

2. Sat. 20th Dec. 08: Walk along the Southern Ridge. Hon. Secretary,Ken Heng is organizing this walk.NParks officers will lead us along this walk which is one of the most interesting in  Singapore leading from Mount Faber at Henderson Waves to Hort-Park. We are paying a nomimal fee to NParks.It is free for members,friends and family . All are welcome.

3. Fri. 8th – Mon. 11th May. 09: TOUR TO HAMANAKA FLOWER AND GARDEN FAIR 2009,JAPAN Details will be given in due course.

As the world progress and we are in the Information Age, communication is now by emails which is so efficient and fast.

We are opening our membership to welcome more professionals related to recreation, leisure, hospitality, health, engineering, recreational facilities  manufacturers, suppliers besides horticulture, aborist, landscape ,managers, contractors and gardeners..

Come and Join us.

Yours sincerely,
Maria Boey
(President,2008-2009,World Commisioner for Singapore IFPRA,2008-2010)