From a living room for residents to senior memory sessions: Ang Mo Kio CC marks 50 years of community

SINGAPORE - During the recent haze episode in October, Ang Mo Kio resident Natalene Lim spotted some students and seniors hanging about void decks and playgrounds in the neighbourhood, and wondered if there could be a place for them to hang out more comfortably.

So she worked with the Ang Mo Kio Community Centre (CC) to come up with a solution. An unused room in the CC was converted into a room for residents to spend their time in.

The air-conditioned room was on Nov 15 launched as a community living room. It contains tables and chairs where residents can do work as well as toys and story books for children.

“The plan is for it to be a get together space for everyone. And we hope that we can use it to do things like book exchanges and food rescue activities in the future,” Lim, who is self-employed and in her 30s, said.

This initiative is among many other efforts and programmes by the CC to bring residents together over the past 50 years.

Its role in the community was celebrated on Nov 15, when the centre commemorated its milestone anniversary with a celebration involving over 1,200 residents that included food and musical performances.

There was also a healthy food cooking demonstration - featuring dishes like shitake mushrooms and broccoli - and functional tests for elderly residents that assessed their grip strength and mobility, among other things.

The Ang Mo Kio CC first started at a HDB block along Ang Mo Kio Street 22 and relocated to its current location at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 in 1981.

Speaking at the event, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said: “Happy that all of you are here participating in the activities, getting to know one another, making friends, and forming a warm community where people care for one another, look after one another, and do things together.”

He also paid tribute to former Ang Mo Kio SMC MP Yeo Toon Chia, who was involved in the CC during its early years and was in attendance during its 50th anniversary celebrations.

SM Lee said the CC now has many partners that it works with in delivering programmes for residents, including Republic Polytechnic and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

For example, the CC has organised memory and cognitive sessions for elderly residents organised in collaboration with SUSS, said Tan Tai Kiat, chairman of the Ang Mo Kio CC management committee.

Making the CC into a “space for co-creation” would also mean involving youth as the next generation of community leaders, and giving them support and resources to come up with new ideas, he added.

“This is one area that we want to build - a caring community in this area which is a very nice kampung feel,” he said.

Siti Mahani Ahamed, 64, a school bus attendant who has been living in Ang Mo Kio since 1979 told ST that she has been coming to the CC for many years, mainly to attend dinners hosted during festive occasions like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.

“It is a place to get together with our neighbours and we can also meet new people,” she said.