Last week's Proceedings -
20th June, 2007
Last week's Proceedings -
20th June, 2007
The meeting was started at 1:12pm by Pres. Paul.
Visiting Guest: This week we have PP Peter Tse from Rotary Club of Tsimshatsui visiting us and he was warmly welcomed by all of us after being introduced by Pres. Paul.
Pres. Paul also welcomed back the return of PP John Kwok from Scotland. PP John then presented the banner to Pres. Paul on behalf of RC of St. Andrews Kilrymont of Scotland. Please see the separate detailed report from PP John to share his joyful experience.
Our acting Sergeant-at-arm, PDG Uncle Peter, was asked to report the Red Box collection of the day being HKD 1,000.
There was no birthday boy this week, Pres. Paul made an announcement to urge and remind all members to enroll and participate in the upcoming District Installation Ceremony dated 6th July 2007 to be held at the Grand Hall of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Pres. Paul then asked PE Laurence to chair the Club Assembly. PE Laurence has asked the Hon. Treasurer and the directors of the board to report on their respective areas as follows:
Hon. Treasurer Rudy reported about the financial position of our Club with all the bank account balances and declared that there were no more foreign currency account balance in the bank apart from a lump sum of 100,000 Japanese yen recently received from our sister club of Kawasaki South. Hon. Treasurer Rudy also concluded that all members have paid their club dues for the second half of the year but he still had to follow up the respective payment of pre-paid luncheon from three members.
Rtn. Tony asked about whether we have benefited from this arrangement of pre-paid luncheon in view of the actual inadequacies of turn-out in some cases. Hon. Treasurer Rudy reported that the arrangement was proved effective and we have ended up with a small positive balance at this moment due to some members still have not taken up all their pre-paid luncheons.
Director Jason and Norman were asked to come up together to report the past activities on Vocational and Community Services. They have briefed us the successful and enjoyable fellowship activities arranged after the vocational service visit to the power plant of China Light & Power in Tuen Mun and the community service visit to the Home of Loving Faithfulness in Sheung Shui.
Apart from these joint functions of vocational and community services Director Jason and Norman have reminded us our continuous support and contributions to the Female Primary Student Subsidy Project in Hebei and the Water Cellar Construction projects.
All these meaningful projects coupled with our other endeavors in Club services under the leadership of our Pres. Paul and the supportive efforts of our board members and the fellow members of the Club have led us won up to nine awards from the District (see details reported by PDG Uncle Peter in the Rotary Information column below).
Director Stephen was then asked to report on the past activities of International Services which covered the recap of relations with our seven sister clubs (Makati North of the Philippines; Penang of Malaysia; Kawasaki South, Osaka Jonan and Niigata of Japan, Vancouver China Town of Canada and the Westwood Village of California of the United States) plus the warm and enjoyable delegation visits to Makati North and from Penang and Kawasaki South.
Director Stephen regretted that joint projects were discussed with our sister clubs such as Penang and Osaka Jonan but were eventually not materialized, he hoped that they would be realized in the coming year.
Director Uncle John was then asked to report on the Club Service and he remarked that our overall attendance rate was far from satisfactory with less than 50%, even lower than the newly lowered tolerance level stipulated by RI for the upcoming term. He appealed to all members that in case they could not attend our luncheon or do any make-up they should at least do the electronic make-up by browsing through our bulletin published in our web-site and answering those questions every week.
While Uncle John has urged members to come more often to our luncheon PE Laurence also has requested all members attending our luncheon to refrain from changing our luncheon menu too often in case the set menu did not suit their preference as this would impose difficulty for the kitchen of the hotel to cope with.
Finally Uncle John urged all members to continue to recruit more members by inviting potential Rotarians to join us and he mentioned that one or two new applications might come up but we need more for the growth of our Club.
PE Laurence thanked the Hon. Treasurer and all the Board Members for their reports and also the attentive support of all the members throughout the Club Assembly.
Pres. Paul adjourned the meeting at 2.08pm by proposing a toast to RI and coupled with Rotary Clubs of Tsimshatsui and Hong Kong Island East.
The 2007 RI Convention will be held on 17th to 20th June in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. A small delegation from district 3450, including PDG Y K Cheng of our club will attend the Convention. A short report of the daily event will be covered by the writer of this column as soon as possible.
As per report from PDG Alexander Mak at the International Assembly. The site of the future RI Convention for 2009 in Seoul, Korea has been changed, pending a new site. Indication seems Birmingham, United Kingdom will be hosting the Convention in 2009.
What is a Rotary International Convention Around May or June each year, Rotary International holds a worldwide convention to stimulate, inspire and inform all Rotarians at an international level. The convention, which may not be held in the same country for more than two consecutive years, is the annual meeting to conduct the business of the association. The planning process usually begins about four or five years in advance.
The RI board determines a general location and invites cities to make proposals. The conventions are truly international events which a large number of Rotarians and guests attend. All members should plan to participate in a Rotary International convention to discover the real internationality of Rotary.
The opening and the closing of the convention are well organized with features of the country hosting the convention. The House of Friendship is a place one must visit, where you meet your old acquaintance and make new one. In some countries, they offer home stay for conventioneers as well. Do not miss the home hospitality night when you can learn their culture too. These are the experience you never forget.
Club news
Members of the Rotary Club of HK Island East should be proud of the achievements made during the Rotary year 2006-2007 which they have worked hard enough for the various projects. Please give a round of applause to yourselves under the guidance of President Paul Chan. We have received (9) nine awards listed hereunder.
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Electronic
Make-up Questions
Chicken Farmer
A chicken farmer went to a local bar, sat next to a woman and ordered a glass of champagne.
The woman perks up and says, "How about that? I just ordered a glass of champagne, too!"
"What a coincidence," the farmer says, "This is a special day for me, I'm celebrating."
"This is a special day for me too, I'm also celebrating!" says the woman.
"What a coincidence" says the man. As they clinked glasses the farmer asked, "What are you celebrating?" "My husband and I have been trying to have a child and today my gynaecologist told me that I'm pregnant!"
"What a coincidence," says the man, "I'm a chicken farmer and for years all my hens were infertile but today they're finally laying fertilized eggs."
''Fancy that!" says the woman, "How did your chickens become fertile?" "I used a different cock," he replied. The woman smiled and said, "so did I".
20th June, 2007
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PDG Uncle Peter, PE Laurence & Pres. Paul |
Hon. Secretary Andy, PP Peter Tse from RC of Tsimshatsui & PP John |
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Rtn. Tony, Rtn Jason, IPP Eddy & Hon Tres,. PP Rudy |
PP Stephen & Rtn Norman |
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PP John present the banner to Pres. Paul on behalf of RC of St. Andrews Kilrymont of Scotland |
Rtn Jason & Rtn Norman reported on the Vocational & Community Service projects. |
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PP Stephen reported on the International Service Projects. |
Members & Guest group photo |
Before composing my experience in St. Andrews, where I visited recently, I would like to start with a short story about the difficulty of admission to play at the Home of Golfing as follows.
"A dignified English solicitor-widower with a considerable income and had long dreamed of playing Sandringham, one the Great Britain's most exclusive golf courses, and one day he made up his mind to chance it when he was traveling in the area. Entering the clubhouse, he asked at the desk if he might play the course. The club secretary inquired, "Member ?" To which he replied "No, sir". "Guest of a member" "No, sir". The answer came back. "Sorry". As he turned to leave, the lawyer sported a slightly familiar figure seated in the lounge, reading the London Times. It was Lord Parham. He approached and, bowing low, said, "I beg your pardon, your Lordship, but my name is Higginbotham of London solicitors Higginbotham, Willinby and Barclay. I should like to crave your Lordship's indulgence. Might I play this beautiful course as your guest?"
His Lordship gave Higginbotham a long look, put down his paper and asked, "Church?"
"Church of England, sir, as was my late wife."
"Education ?" "Eton, sir, and Oxford."
"Sport ?" "Rugby, sir, a sport of tennis and No.4 on the crew that beat Cambridge"
"Service ?" "Brigadier, sir, Coldstream Guards. Victoria Cross and Knight of the Garter."
"Campaigns ?" Dunkirk, El Alamein and Normandy, sir"
"Languages ?" "Private tutor in French, fluent German and a bit of Greek."
His Lordship considered this briefly, then
nodded to the club secretary and said, "Nine holes."
Now, I like to give a brief report to those who have not been playing at St. Andrews in the United Kingdom.
It was always my dream to play golf at the home of golf. In fact, in 1987 when I was sent to London on a buying trip, I did get to Edinburgh but never got close to St. Andrews because I was called back to London at the last moment. So, when the offer came up in 2007, I jumped at the chance to play. My cousin Russell Kwok (former Past President of the R/C of Hong Kong), got an offer for four people to play there. The four of us consisted of Dr. & Mrs.Russell Kwok, his twin brother Kirby and myself. The courses we played were the Old Course, the New Course, Scotscraig Golf Club, the Torrance Course and finally, the Carnoustie Golf Links (the site of the British Open Championship which will be played in July this year), Actually, I had no confidence that my pair of 77-year old legs would hold out over these five grueling days. But then this chance will come only once in my life time. It is now or never. So, I decided to go. My itinerary was to travel from Hong Kong to Edinburgh via Heathrow to meet up with the other three who came via New Jersy. As it turned out that I arrived Edinburgh a half hour ahead of the other three. We rented a van to drive to St .Andrews which took about three hours. We arrived to our destination, St. Andrews around 2 o'clock pm on 22nd of May 2007. We all checked in to our Bed & Breakfast lodge and decided to walk around St. Andrews to familiarize the golf courses. Rotary minded as I am, I found there was a Rotary club meeting that evening right around the corner from our lodge which meets at 6.45 pm., so I took the chance to make up at the Rotary Club of St. Andrews Kilrymount, Fife. There I found many friendly men and women who welcomed me to their meeting. I exchanged club banner with President Herb.
I sat next to Rotarian Angus Peters, a very friendly gentleman who made me feel very much welcomed indeed.
The following was my golf game experience.
The first day of golf was at Scotscraig which was about an hour drive from St. Andrews. This golf course is a relatively easy course. I even got to ride a golf cart the only time I was in Scotland. I wanted to reserve my energy for the rest of the days. This didn't help much as I scored 102.
The second day, we played the New Course at St. Andrews. It appeared that all the golf courses are the links type course. No trees at all with only flat land with many pot holes and bunkers. I shot the best score that day a 98.
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| Pictured of John in front of the club house Before teeing off. | The four golfers in front of the members' club house. No one except members are allowed in. |
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John standing on the famous bridge on the Old Course |
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The third day we played the Old Course at St. Andrews. I hired a caddy to guide me as I wanted to play better on this famous course. Instead, it turned out to be the worst game with a 106. It would be worse if I have no caddy to show me where to aim at. The cost was 70 pounds for his help, but at least, I parred at the 8th hole at this par three hole.
The 4th day, we played the Torrance Course. I had a par on the second hole, a par four hole. That is all for the day ending up with 110. As with all the other courses, no trees could be seen on the course.
Finally, on the last day, we played the famous Carnoustie Course which will be the site for the Open Championship taking place in July next month. With the help of a caddy, I played better with a score of 106 again.
