Daily Reprieve · Spring 2015

History of Singapore AA – Part One

On  the  official  AA  Timeline,  in  the  year  1958,  this  entry  appears: In  this  series  of  articles,  the  Daily  Reprieve  will  share  what  we  can  find  about  the  early  years of  our  Fellowship.    Facts,  photos,  stories,  memories  (even  the  fuzzy  ones)  will  be  lovingly  presented. If  you  have  any  of  these  to  share,  please  come  forward!    Let’s  celebrate  our  journey  and  the  people that  walked  this  path  before  us. The  earliest  first-­‐person  account  I  have  is  from  a  member  who  joined  the  Singapore  Fellowship  in 1976: After  5  weeks  in  a  UK  treatment  centre  and  a  month  of  London  meetings,  she  arrived  in  Singapore looking   for   AA   support.     At   the   time   there   were   3   meetings   a   week,   MWF   evenings,   each   at   a different  location  (Monday  -­‐  Wesley  Methodist  Church  on  Fort  Canning  Rd.,  Wednesday  –  Church  of Sts.  Peter  and  Paul    on  Queen  St.  and  Friday  -­‐  YMCA  on  Stamford  Rd).    Not  long  after,  both  the Methodist   Church   and   the   YMCA   were   closed   for   renovation   and   Queen   St.   became   AA Headquarters  in  a  room  that  was  shared  with  the  Church  Funeral  committee!      Meetings  at  that time  had  6-­‐12  members,  with  numbers  swelling  when  a  U.S.  Navy  ship  was  in  town. Of  course,  with  only  3  meetings  per  week,  no  one  talked  about  doing  90  meetings  in  90  days!    There was  less  formality  and  members  knew  each  other’s  families  and  met  socially  at  their  homes. Al-­‐Anon   was   quite   strong   in   Singapore   right   from   the   beginning,   and   ACOA   (Adult   Children   of Alcoholics)  also  had  meetings  here. Andrew  S.,  who  got  sober  here  in  1982,  believes  that  the  first  Singaporean  to  achieve  long-­‐term sobriety   in   AA   was   Victor   S.   who   joined   in   1963.   Big   Book   studies   were   held   at   his   house   in Serangoon.    Before  him,  the  fellowship  consisted  mainly  of  expats  who  came  to  work  or  visit.

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