Fifty years is certainly a milestone by any standard. To commemorate this milestone, 118 old schoolmates and teachers gathered at The Churchill Room of The Tanglin Club on 18 November 2011 to celebrate the ACS Class of 61/63’s Golden Anniversary Reunion.

Among those present were several classmates from overseas who flew in for the special occasion. They included Chou Sun Lin (our Seow Poh Leng medallist) and Priscilla from Seattle, Chin Kek Vui and Ann from Los Angeles, Raymond Soh and Teresa from Vancouver, Goh Bin Liong and Helen from Wellington, Lee Pui Kuin and John from Toronto, and Ang Chee Soong and Jessie from Ipoh. Our former teachers, Mr Wan Fook Weng, Mr Chan Chin Bock, Mrs Patricia Wong, Mrs Sim Si-hoe Sing Sow, Mr Peter Joe Chia, Mr Wee Teow Kee and Mr Liau Nyuk Hoi, also honoured us by their presence at the event, which took a dedicated team six months to organise.

It was indeed a joyous occasion as classmates, some of whom we have lost touch since leaving school, greeted and re-connected with each other. There was no problem recognizing one another although some of us have changed in our physical appearance; amazingly, some looked almost the same as the day they left school! Undeniably, the delightful buffet spread of Western, Chinese and Indian dishes, the kindred spirit and the happy chatter of long lost friends made the evening a most enjoyable and rewarding one for those in attendance.

A mini talent contest spiced up the evening with our own "ACS Idol" panel of judges appropriately alluded to as Randy Jackson (Glenn Knight), Simon Cowell (Eric Lee) and Paula Abdul (Ethel Chan). Competition was very keen but Victor Ngo eventually pipped Edward Yeo to take the top prize; the deserving third prize winner was the Ms Sixties female quartet comprising Goh Ju Ling, Kuok Perk Harn, Ching Pui Kuin and Cynthia Oh. The winners were awarded with $500, $300 and $200 dining vouchers at a leading restaurant in Singapore.

Throughout the evening, lucky draw prizes were distributed. Sita World Travel kindly donated 10 Singapore Flyer tickets and 2 air tickets to Phuket as 3rd and 2nd prizes respectively. The top prize worth $5,000 was the naming right to a hybridized orchid donated by Ang Chee Soong who owns the Eucharist Orchid farm in Ipoh. And guess who won the top prize? Me! And now I have an orchid named after my beloved - Dendrobium Doreen Lee.

To round off an entertaining and exciting evening, our classmate and perennial pop legend Eric Lee sang a few songs for us, including 2 songs from his new CD "My Heart Wants To Sing". Eric also kindly donated the entire sales proceed of his new CD that evening to the ACS Foundation. We ended the successful evening by singing our school anthem "ACS Forever" and "Forty Years On".