Old photos help siblings reunite with former nursemaid

Ms Lynne Copping left Singapore as a teen in the 1960s. But she never stopped thinking aboutPulauBrani, the Republic’s offshore island that she once called home, or her amah who was a constant in her six years there.

- Ang Qing

The Briton, 72, had kept old photographs of the family’s life on the island, and one of them helped her reunite with her nursemaid Sin Geck Siam.

Her older brother was in Singapore on a work trip in 2007 and had shown some of the old photographs to a porter after finding out he lived on Pulau Brani too.

“The porter saw one of our amah with my older brother and said: That’s my mum!”

Her brother had tea with Madam Sin the following day while Ms Copping has made several trips to Singapore to meet her since then. The former nursemaid is now in her mid-80s.

Ms Copping, a former clerk, has also been actively honouring the memories of her time on Pulau Brani.

In 2008, she started a Facebook group that brought together both army families and Singaporeans who lived on the island off the southern coast of Singapore to archive their photographs and memories there.

To date, the online community has grown to almost 250 members and expanded to people who used to live on Sentosa.