My grandfather, Ah Ho was a source of inspiration for many of us (his 14 grandchildren). My grandfather was a man who picked up Goldsmith and served as an apprentice to support his 5 children. He worked under a Master in 1904 for a good period of 7 years by doing daily chores such as cooking and washing before being given the opportunity to learn how to make gold products. This was a shop in Keong Saik Street. It was not easy for him but he was a very resilient man. He could only manage to speak simple conversational Chinese with her main source of dialect being Cantonese. After being an apprentice for close to 20 years, he started his own business and went through the war period. This eventually became a family business where he passed on the business to his eldest son. Such traditional goldsmith business has dwindled over the years. However, it was a story shared with many of Ivan’s cousins on the tough beginnings of early Singapore.