On August 30th the cohort of ACS born in 57 and who are 57 years old this year, celebrated 50 years of friendship since Primary 1 at ACS Barker Road, where most of us spent our growing up years. Most of us came in school uniform and those without a badge were able to collect one by donating to the Teachers’ Fund. The event started with the singing of the National Anthem, reminiscent of our flag raising during school days, and saying of grace by Jen Huat who is now a pastor. Tharman Shanmugaratnam DPM attended but because he had to rush from another official function, was unable to come in his ACS uniform. At least he did not come in the RI uniform which he is sometimes seen in more often nowadays!

Tharman and Steven Chong (former AG now Supreme Court judge) both gave off the cuff and off the record speeches which were extremely light hearted and entertaining. Many others came forward to remind us of the schooldays antics; trying to change the time at the clock tower to ensure that the culprit would not be late for school, teachers chasing boys round the block, boys carrying and removing teacher’s car from its usual parking lot, and more. In return our teachers Mrs Lee Gek Khim and Mrs Maureen Thevathasen shared their experiences of teaching ACS students.

The other more prominent classmates in our batch who attended included Andrew Phang, Court of Appeal judge, present AG VK Rajah, SLA CEO Vincent Hoong, Director of Medical Services Benjamin Ong, CEO of Esplanade Benson Puah, former Chief Economist at GIC Yeoh Lam Keong, and many other CEOs of banks, MNCs etc.

One important motivation for organizing this event was to encourage our classmates to think of and help the less fortunate members of our society. As part of SG 50 to celebrate Spore’s 50th anniversary, the government has pledged to match every dollar donated to an IPC. In light of this, the organizing committee took the opportunity to encourage our cohort to donate to their favourite charity. As at the date of our dinner, we have raised about $400,000 for 25 different charities and also took advantage of the occasion to contribute to the Teachers’ Fund.

It was a most memorable and fantastic evening spent reliving memories. The event ended with the singing of the ACS Anthem with much gusto and many stayed back to continue the fellowship with long lost classmates.