Chow Ah Ming came to Singapore from Ipoh, Malaysia, in the 1950s and joined the Teachers’ Training College. At this time, he lived at the Kingsmead Hall student hostel for Malayan trainee teachers run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 1951, Father Patrick Joy SJ, the Superior of the Jesuits in Malaya, had been approached by Archbishop Michael Olcomendy to start a hostel for trainee teachers as many of the trainees were living in poor conditions at the time. This led to the construction of Kingsmead Hall at Farrer Road, which housed up to 85 trainees from 1954. It also provided chaplaincy services and held mass in one of the rooms until the Church of St Ignatius was opened alongside the Hall in 1961. Today, the Jesuits in Singapore continue to manage the parish of St Ignatius and the Kingsmead Centre for Ignatian Spirituality and Counselling. They also continue to support the education and noviceship of young men from all over Asia.
