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KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2006-07 Rotary Year : Issue 7 : 2 October | ||
| This
is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||
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| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||
| Editorial
(School
Partnership ) - By Francis Wann | ||
| District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship | ||
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School Partnership A few months ago I went to a briefing arranged by the Education and Manpower Bureau and discussed possible school partnership strategies. It was well represented by Rotary clubs and schools. Mr KF Yeung, senior school development officer, was clearly anxious to get something off the ground and suggested each Rotary club pick a school to start with. It didn't take long for us to choose Ho Tung Secondary as the school and Kingspark did have a bit of history. When I talked to PP Dominic who is now coordinating the project about the rationale behind it, he confessed he had no idea as it was first initiated by the then DG Peter Wan. What I had in mind was a genuine - and rare - opportunity to work with EMB and the school management to identify issues which we as Rotarians could play an active role. Our involvement in the official decision-making process would definitely make a difference to whole face of education, and could well be felt down the hierarchy in the classrooms. After all, our relationship with the United Nations dates back to the UN Charter Conference in 1945, where Rotarians served as delegates, advisors, and consultants. It wasn't long before we realized my illusion was short-lived. The "Adopt-a-School" program is a far cry from what I've envisaged, and what I thought what our involvement should be. Some of you might argue that the project puts Rotary in spotlight, and it's good public relations exercise considering the amount of media coverage it might generate. RTHK will be there this Wednesday (October 4) in the Central Library for the Partnership Agreement Signing Ceremony and - I hasten to add there will be no shortage of heavyweights from the bureau, and selected schools, and of course Rotarians. I could image the party atmosphere. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Don't get me wrong. I could only appreciate our dear Kingsparicans and others for their sincere effort to help the students, not to mention Stephen Tsai for his involvement in several leadership training projects. Principal Wendy Ho of Ho Tung was nonetheless impressed and in an official letter to parents, she also mentioned how normal school functions were rescheduled to make way for our projects. Yes, Rotary is and has always been a service organization. While we thank our partner school for their cooperation and understanding, we would also like to suggest we can go much further than that should we want to make a real impact on education. There is clearly something very fundamental about the role of Rotary we have to address ourselves. We value education and have been in the forefront in our involvements in youth projects, and our Rotaractors and Interactors are walking examples of how Rotary changes the world. But we don't want to be seen as extra hands for schools for their liberal studies or extracurricular sections. The sooner we have it sorted out, the better. | ||
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President's
Column In this week's column, I would like to report on the First Evening Fellowship of the Rotary Year that took place on the last Friday of August. As far as I can remember, it has been a while since our Club has had organized a scheduled evening fellowship dinner. Including the special annual occasions like the Club Christmas Party and the Club Anniversary Dinner, I think our Club has very few evening fellowships in the year. I am afraid this may not be good for the fellowship. Hope I can have some ideas from our members to see how we could organize more evening events to get the fellowship up again. Commenting on the evening event, I believe no one would argue that the dinner fellowship we had on August 25 was value for money. It also fits nicely to my expectation of a good fellowship. On that occasion, as arranged by PP Peter, we had booked several tables in Cheer-o Cafe at the YWCA at Waterloo Road in Kowloon. There were altogether 18 Rotarians, spouses, and family members to form the backbone of the party. The family members of PP Peter and VP Marvin came for the fun and the music. The spouses of PP Edward, PP Thomas, PP Ted, and Calvin came to support and share the fellowship. The only juniors showed up in the party were my two sons. Our Chief Editor also took time off to enjoy the meal. At our invitation and in the same meeting, our Rotaractors held their General Meeting. There were other guests and new faces invited by our Rotarians. From the expressions and the intensity of participation from the audience, I could tell that everyone enjoyed the party. I am proud to say that the fellowship was successful. What was so special about this fellowship that attracted 35 participants? Well, I believe it was the relaxing atmosphere, the very affordable set menu, and possibly, the attraction of live music and songs played by the solo artist, Sunny. In the almost 3-hours relaxing evening, he packed the restaurant with mostly oldies and goodies, and occasionally mixed with rock-and-roll. Members mixed around the crowd freely while the singer, seemed to be oblivious to the minor disturbances that took place around him, still carried on his performance in his usual professional manner. The feedback my members gave me was mostly positive and encouraging. I should thank those who came to the fellowship and enjoyed the party. I should also thank PP Peter for suggesting and booking the venue. Should we schedule more fellowship meetings of similar nature, and let other Kingsparicans have the opportunity to make-up their attendance? I am co-ordinating with Club Service Director Edward, and will soon let our members know the next evening event. I should also like to report on the camp organised by our Rotaractors. They held their annual 2-day 1-night camp at Mui Wo at the Lantao Island on the Saturday of September 16. PP Peter, PP Thomas, and our Community Service Director Joyce joined with me to visit the camp and share fellowship. It was many years since I last visited Mui Wo, so it was a good reason to make the short 30-minutes trip. The temperature and the sea breeze were perfect when we sat down for a sunset seafood dinner in a restaurant next to the ferry pier. The number of Rotaractors that turned out for the camp was not as large as our Kingspark camp, but the hard-core active Board members had showed up. Hope this was not the beginning of a permanent trend. I had a half-hour discussion session with President Rachel on identifying community service projects. I suggested for consideration a water-related management project in Hong Kong in partnership with the World Wild Fund. It was immediately followed by 2 hours of healthy mahjong game: 3 Rotarians against 1 Rotaractor. I would like to keep as a little secret the winners and the results. Those who are interested, you might just have to join next year's camp. | ||
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From
the Webmaster
I certainly do not follow the daily routines of an average business and professional person, but I can assure you that I work rather hard every day, which starts around 6:30am and ends around midnight. What is important is that I live every day as fully as I can and I stay - or I try very hard to be - mindful most of the time: mindful of the present, mindful of what is going on; and I am spending less time - or once again, I try to - looking for things I misplaced or thinking about the past or the future. Living in the present is indeed a full time job. Back to the long weekend which according to the Observatory should be characterized by showers and occasional sunshine, I surprised myself in not having taken a walk to the country parks. The weather these days is perfect for trailwalking. I met some young things who are plannong their Trailwalk 2006, and inevitably, flashbacks of my trailwalking days came back, notwithstanding my determination to stay mindful of the present. For the current issue of Kingspark News, I actually received the contribution from President Patrick last Wednesday and I threatened the chief editor to publish the current issue minus the editorial when his contribution failed to appear in the small hours of National Day. Francis made a very good point about the School Partnership Project and I would recommend you re-read his piece if you fail to get his point in the first reading. It actually dovetails what I said during the last club meeting; and we had not discussed the subject between us. As Rotarians and as a Rotary club, we should make our mark in a project bearing our logo - we should make a difference by what we do and show others what it means to be a Rotarian. The last thing we should do is to run a project for the sake of running it. We must always bear in mind that we are a service club, and that we are not just any service club. We are Rotarians. | ||
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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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