Untitled Document

Last week's Proceedings -

29th March, 2006

The meeting was started at 1:00pm by Pres. Eddy.

Visiting Rotarians: Pres. Eddy extended warm welcome to Rtn. Benny Ratnani of Rotary Club of Hong Kong Northeast and Rtn. C. Piganiol of Rotary Club of Hong Kong South.

Visiting Guests: Rtn. Benny Ratnani introduced his guests, Mr. Robert Dubskey and Miss Xiaoxu to all members.

Birthday Boy: It was the most appropriate time to celebrate our IPP Rudy's birthday (he was born on 1/4). Rtn Heron was honourably chosen to lead the singing of Happy Birthday Song to IPP Rudy.

Announcements:Pres. Eddy announced the following:-

1. The "Uncle Peter's Cup" Golf Tournament would be held on Thursaday,30 March, 2006. After the game, a fellowship dinner would take place at CCC Club in the evening at 7:00pm. Non-golfing members and Rotariannes were also invited to join for the food (wine?) and fellowship. Please contact Sec. Andy for details.

2. The District Conference this year would be held on April 22 -23, 2006 at the Regal Airport Hotel, free Airport Express tickets being available for all registered members. Pres. Eddy urged members , especially new members, to attend this Conference.

Red Box collection: PDG Uncle Peter reported the collection of the day was $1,500.

Talk of the Day: Rtn. John V introduced Dr. Lew Young, manager of the Mai Po Nature Reserve, to give members the following presentation:-

Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Fishpond Conservation

A 1,500 ha area of wetlands around Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay in Hong Kong was listed as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1995. Under the management plan for this Ramsar Site, 460 ha of commercial fishponds were designated as a Wise Use Zone, which means that these fishponds provide economic benefits to the pond-fish farming community as well as being ecologically important for wildlife, particularly waterbirds.

As these fishponds are managed by fishermen, the disturbance may impacts on the environment. However, studies have shown that the traditional management of these fishponds actually help in contributing to their ecological value. The winter drain down of the ponds for harvesting provides an environment for waterbirds to feed on the non-commercial fish and shrimps in the shallow water. The pond bunds which are cut on a regular basis, also provide roosting sites for a variety of birds. However, the decline in the market price of the freshwater fish since the 1990s has caused many fishermen to drain less frequently, from annually to once every two to three years. This management change has reduced the fishponds’ ecological value.

WWF Hong Kong has long recognized that fishermen have an important role in sustaining the fishpond’s ecological value through their management. In 2002 WWF Hong Kong initiated community programmes to dialogue and to encourage the fishermen to continue farming practices that follow the “wise use” concept.

In 2005, WWF Hong Kong launched their “Adopt A Green Fish Farm” project. The general public is invited to support the industry through a management agreement in which the participating fishermen are required to perform tasks beneficial to the fishponds’ ecology through financial incentives. For more information, please visit http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/maipo/greenfishfarm/

Although human intervention may have negative impacts on wildlife, management is often an essential conservation tool. The long-term conservation of the Deep Bay fishponds cannot solely rely on the fishermen’s involvement but also needs to be sustained by public participation.

Dr. Young's Q and A session was well attended.

Vote of Thanks to Speaker: Rtn Norman thanked Dr. Young for his informative presentation and expressed that members were looking forward to visit the Mai Po Nature Reserve in the near future.

Next week's program: PP John announced, due to Ching Ming holiday, no meeting on 5 April, 2006. Thereafter, speaker on Wed. 12 April would be Mr. Gordon Lee, business development director of Elixir Ltd., to talk about "The Tricks in Macau".

Meeting Adjourned: Pres. Eddy adjourned the meeting with a toast to RI and coupled with Rotary Clubs of Hong Kong Northeast, and Hong Kong South.

Rotary Information

Group Study Exchange G.S.E. otherwise known as Group Study Exchange was initiated in 1965 under the umbrella of The Rotary Foundation. This programme has provided educational experience for the team members who also served as Ambassadors of goodwill. The first exchange was started between districts in California, USA and Japan.

The GSE team consisted of all male members in the past, but recently, men and women were able to travel together in a team. Each team comprised of one Rotarian leader and four non-Rotary members, either male or female, to expose themselves in countries other than their own for vocational studies. The team members will be taken care of by Rotarians' families, either out going team or incoming team. Mostly, team members will be guided by Rotarians to visit, farms, schools, industrial plants, professional offices and government establishments, etc.

In 2006, there are seven GSE teams, the largest number of GSE teams in this Rotary year. The incoming team comes from Perth, Australia, Texas, Illinois, USA. , India, Mongolia, plus our outgoing team. All the team members will attend the District Conference in April 2006 and will perform cultural shows to promote each of their own talents at the Conference. It will provide each team the best opportunity to cement better friendship among themselves which serves a life-long experience.

PDG Peter's Cup Golf Tournament

The yearly event of the Uncle Peter's Cup Golf tournament was organized by PP David Li and PP John Kwok which was teed-off on the 30th March 2006 at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, N.T. with five flights at the Eden Course. The players were mostly our own members with a few guests participated. The result was recorded as follows:

Net Score winner (Champion) …………….PP David Li Net Score
1st Runner-up ……………….....................PP John Kwok Net Score
2nd Runner-up………................………….Rtn Raymond Choi

Lowest Gross Score.............……...............PP Philip Hsieh
2nd Lowest Gross Score ............................PP George Leung
3rd Lowest Gross Score .............................PP Pi Leung

Longest Drive (the 7th hole)…………….… PP David Li
Longest Drive (the 16th hole)……………. ..PP Stephen Liu

Closest to the pin (the 2nd hole)…………….PP Hubert Chan
Closest to the pin (the 17th hole) …………...Rtn. Raymond Choi

Booby prize ………………………………..Rtn. Andy Wong

A fellowship dinner (two tables of Chinese Cuisine) was arranged at the Craigen Clower Club with all the golfers and non-golfers with families plus guests. PP David Li, being the winner of the golf event, voluntarily bought wines for the evening in celebration of his championship. From the past records, this was the 3rd time that PP David grabbed the trophy. A vote of thanks also went to PP Hubert Chan for donating each player and guest with a classical radio. One of the Rotarian guests, PP Pi Leung also dished out coupons worth $50 each for food purchasing at his Tai Hing Roast Restaurant Group. The recipients appreciated the generosity. Many thanks for the donors. The enjoyable party ended up at around 11.00 p.m.

Club News (Obituary)

With sadness, we hereby report that the mother of our PP. Henry Chan passed away peacefully on 27th March 2006 at the age of 78. Funeral service will be held at 9.30 a.m. on Monday, 17th April 2006 at the Hong Kong Funeral Home, 679 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong. Lyke-wake will commence at 5.00 p.m. the evening prior.

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Electronic Make-up Questions

You can submit an electronic makeup for this missed meeting by answering the following 8 questions:

1. We have two visiting Rotarians today, what were their names and which club did they come from?

Answer:

2. There were two announcments, briefly tell what were they?

Answer:

3.What was the SAA collection today as reported by PDG Uncle Peter?

4. Who was the guest speaker today and what was his topic.?

Answer:

5. What does G.S.E stand for?

Answer:

6. In the PDG Peter's Cup Golf Tournament who was the Net Score Winner?

Answer:

7. Who was the Lowest Gross Score winner?

Answer:

8: Whose mother passed away on 27th March, 2006?

Answer:

Instruction:

Please copy these 8 questions click the following URL John Kwok and paste it to the email and answer these questions and then click send

An elderly gentleman went to the local drug store and asked the pharmacist for the little blue "Viagra" pill.

The pharmacist asked "How many?"

The man replied, "Just a few, maybe a half dozen. I cut each one into four pieces."

The pharmacist said, "That's too small a dose. That won't get you through intimacy.

The old fellow said, "Oh, I'm past eighty years old and I don't even think about intimacy much anymore.

I just want it to stick out far enough so I don't pee on my new golf shoes.

Photographs of our meeting

The guest speaker is Dr. Lew Young , the manager of the Mai Po Nature Reserve who spoke on "The Importance and Conservation of the Commercial Fishponds in Hong Kong".

(L to R) PDG Uncle Peter, Guest speaker Dr. Lew Young, and Pres Eddy.

(L to R) Hon Sec Andy, PP Henry Chan, and Hon Tres. Laurence Chan.

Rtn Heron was the leader of the birthday song for IPP Rudy while Pres. Eddy looks on.

PDG Uncle Peter made the SAA report on the collection for today.

Program Chairman Rtn John V introducing our guest speaker today.

( L to R) Miss Xiaoxu and Mr. Robert Dubskey, two guests of Rtn Benny Ratnani (HKNE) IPP Rudy, and Dr. Tony.

(L to R) Rtn Heron Chan, PP Hubert Chan, PP Steven Liu, PP John IV, and Rtn Norman Lee.

(L to R) PP's Andrew Chen, Tim Lui, Rtn Peter II, Rtn Christophe Piganiol (HKS), and Rtn Kenny Chan.

Our group Photo of our meeting with all the guests,visiting Rotarians and PDG Uncle Peter, Pres. Eddy, guest speaker, and our members on the 29th of March, 2006.

2006 PDG Peter's Golf Tournament