MAY 13, 2002

THERE are days when Mr Derek Trueman would be embarrassed to take a tourist to the East Coast beach because of the rubbish that washes ashore.

Trash that wash ashore on the beach at East Coast is one of Mr Trueman's bugbears. --JOYCE FANG

The 53-year-old geography teacher from Anderson Junior College is no tourist to Singapore, having lived here for the past 13 years.

His wife of 10 years is a Singaporean and the couple have two children, aged five and four.

He said: 'I wanted this to be my home and my children's home. I got involved in the environment because I care for it, no matter where it is.'

On Saturday, he was honoured for being a pioneer of the Green Volunteers Network, which was set up by the Singapore Environment Council in 1997 to promote volunteerism.

He was one of six who received achievement awards from the council. The other winners included a retiree, a housewife and a student.

There are about 900 registered Green Volunteers.

As part of his contribution as a volunteer, Mr Trueman compiled the first Singapore Green Map with the help of 74 student volunteers.

He also led a land-use survey of Pulau Ubin, which also marked out nature areas on the island.

'When I first started teaching, I was amazed. None of the students had been to Pulau Ubin,' he said, laughing.

He remedied that by taking his junior college students on field trips and getting them do project work on environmental issues.

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