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KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2006-07 Rotary Year : Issue 4 : 12 August |
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is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong |
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Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan |
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Editorial
(I
Want To Be District Governor) - By Michael Eyles |
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District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship |
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I Want to be District Governor [This editorial is provided by Rtn Michael Eyles - Webmaster]
wever, at the Kingspark Camp on the weekend of Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd July 2006, we held informal discussions on the late evenings of Friday and Saturday after the smaller children had gone to bed. One of the topics of discussion was the clash on the Saturday of our own Kingspark Camp being held at the Tung Tsz Scout Centre, and the District Handover Ceremony being held in town. Both are annual events, held only once a year, both important to Rotarians. One point of view says that the club level is the most important in all of Rotary, it's where the community service, fellowship and regular meetings take place, it's the creative spring of water which gives rise to ideas and change. This point of view is supported by the way clubs are the formal constitutional focus in Rotary. On the other hand, another point of view says that the District level is important for its co-ordinating role within District, in its vital role as the medium of communication between clubs and Rotary International and in its facilitation of funding for cross border projects. I wonder what you, the reader, think; but our President and Immediate Past President and some other Past Presidents preferred the Camp to the Handover. You might be wondering by now about the title of this editorial: whether I have, to borrow a phrase, lost the plot. It was during the same informal discussions that we took advantage of the absence of the two Past District Governors from our club to discuss the more sensitive issues surrounding the issue of being and running for District Governor. District Governors must have leadership qualities which outshine. However many Past Presidents of clubs have leadership qualities. So what else if you want to run for District Governor? Certainly the support of your spouse; and if your children are older and can get on with life for a year without bothering you too much, that might help too. Furthermore, if you feel your career is more important, for example the possibility of being posted outside Hong Kong with a promotion, then a District Governorship is not for you at present. That's my point of view. District 3450 should be happy that at least one club takes District seriously; just turning up at District events to sit and listen and clap our hands may be useful to us as individuals, but as Ted Ho points out in his excellent article on the Camp, we were doing that on Saturday for our own club. |
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President's
Column [President Patrick wrote this article around 28 July 2006 - Webmaster]
By advance booking more than 3 months ago, Kingspark was able to secure the whole campsite exclusively to hold this annual event. The camp is neatly built on a gentle slope setting. It contains all the basic and essential facilities that one could think of to run a scout camp. There is a 25-meter swimming pool, a basketball court, air-conditioned function rooms, a large air-conditioned canteen hall, air-conditioned dormitory bedrooms, and common and private shower-rooms. Though not luxury by any standard, I would rate it a 3 out of a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best. When I and 2/3 of my son's team arrived at the camp on the Friday afternoon (the rest of my family joined me on Saturday), PP Ted, PP Thomas, PP Raymond, Sport Captain Raymond and their families were already in the pool enjoying their mid-day swim under the torching summer heat. The supper set of 4 dishes and 1 soup was served sharply at 6 p.m. All soup and food was gone in less than 30 minutes, I meant everything on the table was finished. PP Tom and Mildred made the effort to arrive just in time to clean up whatever food was left on the table. Personally, I think that the cooking was not as good as in Ted's Kitchen, but the rate the food was consumed should clearly mean that I was not correct. Our Vocational Director Stephen showed us the Walt Disney's film "Eight Below" soon after supper. The film was a true and touching story about the bonding between human and sleigh dogs in the south-pole setting. All the kids seemed to enjoy and stayed until the very end of the movie. After mid-night and when all the wives and kids had gone to bed, the hard-core Kingsparicans and their friends engaged in a few rounds of beers and drinks under the clear stars. PP Edward retired early to bed even before the end of the movie. He missed the entertaining mid-night gossip rounds. We should thank the few caring Rotarians who had made special efforts to transport the beers and drinks legally into the camp. The camp did not provide further refreshments after 8 p.m. not to mention about alcoholic drinks. The second day started leisurely with outdoor games. The rope net games were most popular among both the grown-ups and the children. Have anyone seen PP Ted doing his push ups, not on level ground, but on two ropes hanging horizontally? I suppose it is a feat that can only be matchd by the Shaolin priests. DRR Eddie was the only player who successfully finished the 2-rope cross bridge challenge. The children later went through a round of wit-testing treasure hunt. The morning session ended with more rounds of "Lord of the Ring"-type water cannon battle for the children. After lunch came the climax of Kingspark Camp. Vocational Director Stephen conducted a 3-hour vocational presentation. The topic of the day was "Get the Edge". Stephen is a professional corporate trainer by vocation. Using his skill set and experience, he gave the audience from the age of 13 up to 60 (Guess who? He is one of our Rotarians) advices on searching and growing one's good strength, even changing one's attitude and skill if necessary, to achieve personal and career goals. The speech was positive and highly charged. Stephen's speech was so motivating that many young men and women who came to the camp continued with their interests, and kept Rotarian Stephen busy and occupied with extra counseling time into mid-night and early morning hours. His idea of "Preservation Egg" game captivated many of the participants to make extra effort to protect and treat their eggs with special care and attention. Well done, Stephen! I think you have become an idol to the new generation. Rotarian Stephen Lin and Huey Jin came to the camp for a few hours and participated in the vocational talk. He was challenged and agreed to lay HK$100,000 on the table in front of an audience of about 80 to keep up to his promise to do exercise 5 times a week. PP Ted would make sure that Stephen keeps his promise. Who knows? Our Club might have a chance to receive red box of HK$100K if Stephen fails! Supper for the evening was a BBQ. Raw food served was more than enough for all who stayed. We had ordered supply for 90 persons. Following the BBQ, Vocational Director showed us the film "Men of Honors". In line with his vocational talk of personal goal setting and making positive changes, the film was a true story about a black sailor who did everything he could to become the first Senior Diver in the U.S. Navy. It was a captivating and positively charged movie. I believed many of our young men and women liked the film. By 1 a.m. I still saw many of them staying up and talking about life and experience. PP Peter came to the camp at about 1 a.m. after finishing with the District Installation, and offered a treat of popsicle. It was very thoughtful of him. Also, thanks Calvin for his treat of private collection of XO cognac. The next Sunday morning was not a lazy morning for many of our young men and women. When I went for breakfast at 8:15 a.m. almost all of the bread and noodles were finished. I was told that about 30 young men and women were already up at 7 a.m. and joined PP Ted for morning exercise. Of course, the early morning birds got the food. I like to sum up how I felt about this year's Kingspark Camp. To our Club, Kingspark Camp is a very important and special event of Club Service. It is a great fellowship not just for Rotarians and Rotariennes, but also for the spouses and children, Rotaractors, Interactors, Partners-in-Service, Youth Exchange Students, Rotary Scholars, and friends. The 3-day 2-night camp created ample opportunities to build friendship, understandings and networking. Vocational experience and values were exchanged and shared. We built the Kingspark Camp on the solid foundation of 2 of the 4 avenues of services, namely club service and vocational service. We put fellowship and vocational service in a cooking pot. We added fun, games and pleasure as flavor. We heated and simmered the content over the summer weekend. What have we got? Well, it was simply Service Above Self. Kingspark Camp represents a commitment to the Club and is a service to other members and their family. We have purposedly organized the Camp in Hong Kong. We accommodated 23 Rotarians, 28 spouses and children, 9 Rotaractors, 10 F4-6 students from the Ho Tung Secondary Girl School, 2 Youth Exchange Students, and another 25 young men and women invited by the sons of PP Peter. Does it not the peak attendance number of 110 tell something special about our Camp? Let us hope that no more Kingsparicans miss the Kingspark Camp next year. |
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Another
President's Column [Racel Leung is President of Rotaract Club of Kingspark 2006-07 - Webmaster]
The 11th Installation Ceremony was successfully held on July 8, 2006 with the support of our mother club, Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong. Honorable guests DG Tony Wong, PDG John Wan, PDG Alexander Mak and PDG Peter Wan were present and supported us in the ceremony. The presence of all of you has made the ceremony wonderful and fruitful. What's more important is the warm and comfortable atmosphere that had given us a feeling of a supportive family! It is my great honour and pleasure to be the President for the club this year. It is my second year as a member of Kingspark and I am always very proud to be a member of the club. Well before I joined the club, I had been impressed by their signature service projects such as "Little Shoes" and "Spina Bifida Concerns", and of course their enthusiasm to serve the community. In the last Rotary year, I am pleased to have the opportunity to get involved in the "Little School Bags" project, which was launched successfully. This year we will have another signature project and we will carry on the Kingspark spirit - strive for the best! I will give my best and commit to leading the club to achieve another fruitful and joyful year during which my board members and I could gain and enjoy together. |
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More
on the Kingspark Camp [This is the last article on the subject this year - Webmaster]
In the beginning, life was a simple affair. Our predecessors went about farming, harvesting, surviving through conditions much harsher than our own, which suggests that they were too busy staying alive to enjoy the pleasures of life. I can confidently tell anyone that they most probably experienced the many wonders and sensations of this world much more than we have. You might say, 'Well, that's in the past. We can't possibly do that now in the 21st century.' Then I ask you this simple question: Why not? As Eric Butterworth once said, 'Don't go through life, grow through life'. People of the modern age have forgotten how to live life to its fullest. We have been blinded by material possession. We have forgotten the basics. We have lost touch with what we all could feel once upon a time: the joy of simplicity. Rotary should be the same. 100 years ago, when Paul Harris founded the first Rotary Club, he had the basics in mind, which was the element of 'fellowship'. As time went on, and only as this fellowship strengthened, did the idea of service emerge. This is why I have always firmly believed that only when there is fellowship, can there be contribution to society through our services. This is what I feel some Rotary organisations lack, as they have clouded the fundamental goal which Paul Harris envisioned. However, inevitably, as humans we tend to forget about these values and take detours from our original paths, ending up at unintended destinations. This is why at the Rotary Club of Kingspark, we gather together at a camp each year to reconnect with our original philosophies and to rekindle our sense of fellowship. This year, the Kingspark Camp was held at the Tung Tsz Scout Centre in Tai Po, New Territories from July 21st to July 23rd, 2006. In the spirit of this year's theme, 'Get the Edge', the first main activity of the camp was a session entitled 'Discover Your True Potential' with a specialist in positive thinking, Rotarian Stephen Tsai. Everyone was simply expecting Stephen to speak for the entire two-and-a-half hours during this session. We surely were in for a surprise when he whipped out cartons of eggs, gave one to each of the participants and then told them to write down something dear to them. They were in for an even greater surprise, or more precisely speaking, confused, when he told them that this egg was to be held on to throughout the whole camp at all times, even while having fun during other activities. Obviously, some broke their egg within moments of receiving it, and others took a while more, but all of us understood the message Stephen was trying to carry across. Their objectives should be to protect the eggs while still enjoying other activities. Some participants decided to just protect the eggs and refrained from taking part in other activities, highlighting the problem which they are faced with in daily life. Life should be a balancing act. Why should one forget their family while furthering their career, or contrarily, why should one neglect their work merely to seek luxuries in life? The effect this training session had on the participants could immediately be seen. It was as though, in each of their hearts, a phoenix had risen out of the ashes left behind from a fire, which had long since been put out. They had been given an injection of inspiration, and this very fire of passion had been reignited. It is often said that a picture speaks a thousand words. Therefore if we take one frame in a film to be one picture at a frame rate of 24 frames per second, a 2 hour long film would speak roughly 170 million words. We decided to put this theory to test and showed two films, one at the end of each day: 'Eight Below' and 'Men of Honour', the former tells of how a pack of dog-sled huskies survived through an extreme Antarctic snow storm and the latter chronicles the inspirational, true-life story of Carl M. Brashear who overcame insurmountable obstacles to earn one of the Navy's highest honours. Ironically, Carl Brashear passed away at age 75 one week ago. Both of these films reminded us again of how important it is to perservere through hard times and to not let go of our dreams. The final morning was when we put our newfound motivation to test. The previous night was a sleepless one, as that is the way all last nights at any camp are meant to be. Nevertheless, we made a pledge to each other, that we would all muster up our spirit and wake up early in the morning before breakfast to do an hour of vigorous exercise, aptly titled the 'Hour of Power'. We all showed our resolve and showed up, despite the lack of sleep. Although nowhere near as difficult as Carl Brashear's challenges, we had understood and accepted what the spirit of the camp was and I was extremely pleased to see over 50 participants who took part in the session. All good things come to an end, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to our fellow campers. We would be returning to the world we left behind for a weekend, but all the while remembering the few very simple, yet powerful things we had learned. Regrettably, several members could not attend the camp despite having been given half a year's notice, due to other more important 'activities' which they had to attend to. I believe the words of PP Raymond sum up my response to this most appropriately: Why can't we sit under the starry night sky, while enjoying the aroma and flavour of a 30-year-old X.O.? Why can we not bask in the beaming smiles of our children as they have fun, with no piano lessons, no homework and no pressures? In this world today, why can't we simply live a life that is simple and beautiful? I must thank President Patrick and IPP Dominic for putting their trust in me in organizing the Kingspark Camp 2006. Most importantly I am also grateful to them for staying throughout the whole Camp, meaning they could not attend the District Installation on Saturday night. If the Kingspark campers represented a freshly baked cake, then Rotarian Stephen Tsai would definitely be the icing on top of it. He demonstrated again and again that he is a real master of his field and I am sure he had inspired many of us. As for PP Peter, now better known as 'Mr. Bean', I must thank you for representing Kingspark at the District Installation. I must also mention my gratitude for your effort in joining us at the camp all the way out in Tai Po even though it was well after midnight. I will always remember the great fellowship that we enjoyed. The Ho-Tung girls were fantastic, as they participated whole-heartedly and passionately in all activities and sessions. I was extremely impressed with their effort during the Hour of Power. Our young friends introduced by Francis and Jude Lo (PP Peter's sons), were simply marvelous. Last but not least, our Rotaractors, the wives and children: I cannot even begin to describe how amazing you all were in showing your support and enthusiasm. I love you all. |
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Letter from Paris
Prima facie, it seems that we have so much talents around, and I am glad. I wonder whether anyone would volunteer to stand in as webmaster. I had my laptop with me so that I can upload ths issue of Kingspark News. The hotels I stayed in don't always have internet facilities; so it is touch and go. In the time I had access to the internet and emails, I learnt that you had some unique experience with a typhoon which the Observatory refused to upgrade but which had caused so much disruptions that only a typhoon could cause. I don't get too much news about Hong Kong otherwise, except that my ISP had asked me to read SCMP on the fall in profits of Cathay Pacific largely caused by the rise in oil prices. At the same time, I also receive a few offers from Citibank-Cathay Pacific to introduce new clients for their joint-credit card. Thus for every new successful client I introduce, I would receive 1,000 Asian Miles and an additional 15,000 if I can get them five. The world appears to stand still in the past two weeks, except when I turned on the TV and saw pictures of war and destruction, and loss of human lives in Lebannon and elsewhere. There was also mention of heightened security in airports in London and USA following the arrest of over 20 terrorists who apparently had plans to blow up planes or airports. I could not follow the details because of my very limited French. I started my present trip in Bilbao in Spain and traced the footsteps of the founders of the Society of Jesus before I landed in Lourdes. Some of you might recall that I was only recently in Lourdes, which makes this current one the second in as many months. It was a very much worthwhile trip; and I can see myself going there again. At the sanctuary in Lourdes, there was not much commercialism, but plenty of opportunities for prayers and enhanced spirituaity. There are sick - very sick - people everywhere, but they were invariably helped by sufficient volunteers who are very well organized. I was told that these volunteers had to go through rigorous selection before they can come and only for a limited number of days. I wonder whether any Rotary clubs had taken up such projects. Again, my limited French prevented me from making any meanugful inquiries even though I stayed in a hotel which is supposed to be a Ritary hotel, ie, one with a Rotary club holding regular meetings. More importantly, the sick being carried and cared for and the volunteers have hope written on their faces. They stayed in lines sometimes under rather bad weather conditions for hours waiting for their turn and waiting to join the daily processions and other ceremonies, totally unpurtrbed.. Then the water from Lourdes - I can never drink sufficient quantities. I washed my face and hands every time I passed by the taps and I carried more than 5 litres to my friend in Paris. There are many more things I can discuss or would like to discuss; and I have not even started talking about the Jesuits and their erudite founders. One of the objectives of my trip is to spend a period resting - literally doing nothing. This is not easy. For example, I find myself doing what I am presently doing. Doing nothing positively is an art, a lost art. For by positively not doing anything, one could allow ideas to flow freely while at the same time the mind is free of ideas or concepts. Everywhere is so quiet here; and one should remember that quiet moments in quiet places and being alone are the conditions conducive to spirituality. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was troubled, he would go to quiet places alone and so on. For me, I have to admit that my random thoughts include Rotary, Kingspark and you. I wish you well and I look foward to meeting you in September. |
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Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. |
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Chief Editor
: Francis Wann The Board of Directors President :
Patrick Wong |
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