Golden News

Volume 14 Numbers 17 - 20

The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile
http://www.rckgm.org

NOVEMBER IS ROTARY FOUNDATION MONTH

A BONANZA TABLE OF BIRTHDAY BOYS AND GRILS

LAST FOUR MEETING’S & SPEAKERS

25^th October

Ms Carlye Wai-Ling Tsui, M.B.E., J.P. of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors spoke on business in the SAR with particular reference to the duties of directors, particularly in relation to the Companies Ordinance and Company Secretarial matters.

I was not at the meeting and have no further details but I could tell you about my son Sandy and his Bride’s wedding and blessing on that day held in the Marriage Registry and in St John’s Cathedral respectively ……… and respectfully, I might add. Did you know that the Cathedral is the only freehold land in Hong Kong? I had heard it many years ago, and notice it was mentioned in the Sunday bugle recently. 

I know that you will not be offended if I wish them both, on our Club’s behalf, a long and successful happy marriage. They get a copy of this in U.K. and will surely read it.

1^st November

The Hon. Justice Bokhary, a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, spoke on what the public are entitled to expect of the judiciary and how they can go about discovering whether the judiciary is living up to their expectations.

I was late for this meeting, and arrived for question time which was very lively. I always thought that our Club was very judicially minded!

Attendance was average; the food was great.

8^th November

P.D.G. Jason Yeung gave a most interesting comprehensive review of the Rotary Foundation, with lots of statistics and interesting facts which no doubt are already in various Foundation publications available from our Foundation Director. There was also an interesting quiz, which put a fair number of senior KGM Rotarians on the spot. I fortunately managed to hide behind PP Vince and the very good attendance which added dignity to the meeting in the half sized Ballroom in from for the moving staircases.

We also welcomed a small delegation from California, The Rotary Club of Santa Ynez (sic) and a large one from The Rotary Club of Hirosaima Hatsukaichi, as well as our Rotarians from our own District.

15^th November

Dr Calvin Ho spoke very fluently and knowledgeably on “Diabetes”, which the Webmaster called “High blood pressure”, the latter of which is something I’ve been having a lot of in the last month due to the constant failure of my office computer and internet systems. There are other reasons but more of that perhaps later. Well I wouldn’t dream of attempting to summarize Doctor Ho’s thorough coverage of the subject of diabetes, except to say that I remember there are two types, one you get when you are young and the other that gets you when you’re older, if you don’t watch out. I seems I’ve missed the first kind and doing alright fending of the second, for the time being. Alas the other thing I remember distinctly is that the malady is on the increase.

The question session was lively and the food not as good as when we have the Chinese cuisine.

There was one excellent joke, told I believe by the President about answering machines. See later on!

PROSPECTIVE MEMBER

Mr. Pico Dialdas

The Membership Committee and the Board of Directors have approved an application for Active membership in favour of Mr. Pico Dialdas; membership classification – “Buying Office – Hypermarkets”. Any club member who wishes to lodge an objection to this proposal is required to do so in writing to the Club Secretary within 7 days from the date of this notice (i.e. on or before 28^th, November, 2000), setting out the reasons for their objection. 

If no objections are received within the specified period (and subject to advance payment of the ruling joining fee), Mr. can be inducted as an Active member of KGM on or after 28^th November, 2000. 

 PICTURE SPOT

I’m sorry there have been no pictures of late. I know I know there has been no bulleting either grovel grovel. The thing is they use up a huge amount of data and overload peoples email facilities. So PP Vince is going to put them on our Website and we can click on its address in the Bulletin, but I have to learn how first!

NEXT MEETING, 22^nd NOVEMBER

We will hear from Mr Raymond Lo, Fung Shui Master, who is not I have it on good authority the webmaster of a site called fung shui. Nor a relation of PP Vince.

ON MULTI VOCATIONS WITH …

PP Robin Ching (A Charter Member)

Classification – Senior Active

I was born on the Chinese National day, 1^st October, in fact the same year too! My grandfather was Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s first teacher in Zhongshan, China, and we still own a house with a banner honouring this. Recently we have decided to donate this house to form part of the exhibition premises of Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum in Zhongshan.

Owing to political changes in 1949, and the fact that my father worked for the former Nationalist government, we moved to Hong Kong in 1950, as poor as church mice.

I got a scholarship and finished my secondary education at the age of 16. I was then admitted to the now Hong Kong Polytechnic University to study accountancy, only to find that the teachers were not good enough and the curriculum too slow for me, so I quit one year later and found an auditing job and earned my first dollars ($400 per month then), continuing my studies at evening classes and through correspondence courses from the UK.  Three years later, I completed the 18 papers of the examinations of the UK accountancy body ACCA, and became a qualified accountant.   Only 3 other HK persons managed to pass at that same sitting.

Because of the scarcity of qualified accountants in that era when HK was setting forth for rapid growth, headhunters followed me all the way, and I changed jobs very frequently. The many companies I worked for include the Banking Commission and Hongkong Electric, and at the age of 24 I became the Financial Controller of Inchcape’s publicly listed company in HK, called Inchcape Enterprises.  That year was double happiness as I got married to Judy too, on 15th November 1973. We now have 2 boys, both studying at Melbourne University and a girl who is now busy preparing for her Uni entrance exam.

I was Managing Director of a UK listed group in London (I was only 29 then), then I worked for a Malaysian company Sime Darby, before I joined Hang Lung - my present job - in 98, and I have turned away headhunters since, couldn’t be bothered anymore, even for higher pay!

My job is manifold, from being company secretary to group financial controller, and the duties include financial management, treasury, internal audit, insurance, pension fund, accounting, EDP, budgeting, secretarial, legal, administration, … you name it.

Anything, other than selling and leasing, or building of properties, lands squarely on my desk. I can hardly breathe sometimes, but I still manage to come to Rotary meetings, to the Club that I love, having been a Rotarian since 1981! (founding member of TSTE too).

Notwithstanding all these “glories”, the sadest thing in my life (apart from losing my father 10 years ago) is having to live alone here in HK for 8 years now, after my family migrated to Melbourne in 92. This will soon be changed for the better, I hope, when my little girl goes to university next year.

Jagdish Pursram 

Classification – Exporter - Ladies Fashion

Having moved to Hong Kong, from Bombay in my early teens, I enrolled into a little school in Borrett Road, some of you may know as Island School.   Thereafter, I obtained a BBA in Finance at The University of Texas at Austin and decided to return to Hong Kong.  Those of you’ll who visit the US, should at some point spend a day or two in Austin, it’s a fast growing city, home of Dell, and worth the detour.

I run a trading company, like the other 100,000 or so small businesses in Hong Kong.  The business has been in the family since the late 70’s.  We export a range of clothing apparel to clients in Europe, and Australia, where we work with importers/wholesalers, and retailers.

On the buying side, my work involves working with local Hong Kong suppliers, and those in the mainland.  We produce our apparel in over 10 different Chinese cities, as each area has different specializations in terms of quality and price.   Over the years we’ve seen a dramatic shift of production from South China to all other areas, and not just the coastal cities.   On the selling side, maintaining client contact is an everyday affair, and as Europe opens up in the afternoons our time, things do get busy in the office after lunch!

I’m married to Jaya, who most of you’ll have met.  She’s grown up in the land of our ex-colonial masters, Great Britain.  We’ve got a 6 month old son, who most of you’ll have not met, his name is Akash. Family life is entertaining to say the least, and we’re both looking forward to him growing up in the coming years.

My interests include reading, movies, food, travelling for pleasure, squash, surfing the net, and of course more recently, babysitting!

Rtn. Dayal Aswani

Classification – Exports – Garments

I came to Hong Kong in 1955 and was single then with only a motivation and drive to succeed. I came in work and help out at a retail store. I was there for 10 years. I started out on my own in 1965 doing mail orders of garments in partnership with a friend. I also expanded into exports. In 1989 we broke the partnership and I was on my own which was a big step. Things are going well indeed for me now and I am happy working and expanding with the help of my son Sunny being involved in garment exports, textile and exports of ready garments.

I was married to my lovely wife Kamni in 1962 and we have 3 successful and loving children. One is a doctor of medical practice in the US who is married with a daughter who is 11 months old. I have a married daughter who has 3 kids aged 13, 11 and 7. My son in Hong Kong has a daughter of 14-months which totals our grandkids to a grand 5!

As long as health permits, I will continue to work because I believe that “work is worship”.

Rotary is a wonderful organisation and I love to meet my fellow Rotarians weekly and serve with them in all our worthy causes.

EVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

Report by Rtn. Neerja Sujanani, Vocational Service Director

President Cassidy and I attended the workshop and address on Environmental Initiatives for ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AMBASSADORS.

The Rotary District has joined hands with the Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) and has instituted and undertaken the REPAS (Rotary Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme) programme.

This workshop was jointly organised by the Environmental Campaign Committee, Environmental Protection Department (of the HKSAR), Lions Clubs International, Rotary International and Zonta International.

The programme started with registration and cocktails. The opening speech was given by Mr. Ronnie Wong, JP, Chairman of the Environmental Campaign Committee. Then was an interesting presentation on “Government Initiatives and Policy on Environmental Protection” by Mr. Robert JS Law, JP, Director of the Environmental Protection Department. Lastly was a presentation on “Introduction to Environmental Accounting” by Mr CM Lin, General Manager, Environmental Management Division, Hong Kong Productivity Council.

The Environmental Campaign Committee (ECC) has been set up since 1990 to promote public awareness of environmental issues and encourage the public to contribute actively towards a better environment. Committee members are appointed by the Chief Executive. They come from Green Groups, the education sector and academic field, industrial and business organizations, professional institutions and community service agencies. Representatives of relevant government departments, including the Environmental Protection Department, also sit on the Committee. Since its establishment, the ECC has planned and organized many environmental events and activities for different sectors of the community.

For participation in the ambassador scheme, you are required to take 1 workshop and 1 half-day visit (out of 25 choices). Please contact Rtn. Neerja for the form or for more details on: 2585-3273 or by email: neerjasujanani@economist.com

For more information log onto:

http://www.ecc.org.hk/

JOKES FOR THE WEAK

This one, I’m sure, was mentioned by President Cassidy, at our last meeting. It deserves special mention.

In the course of a business call recently a Hong Kong entrepreneur was surprised when the young voice at the other end of the line said, “I’m so sorry that our answering maching has broken down and I’m sorry this is Mr. Ponsonby-Smith’s Secretary speaking.

###

With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

###

Although Ellen had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store.

###

A graffiti artist was surprised to see the words “I like Grils” on the wall somewhere in the town but with the word “Grils” crossed out, no doubt by some passing academic. Funnier still was another note underneath, “Wot about us “Grils then?”

 
BRAIN TEASER

What is the significance of the number “137” which was worn by Carola and her team (my son Eric, Rotarian Brian Van Dale and a Hong Kong Gentleman by the name of Simon Chapman)?

By the way congrats to the team for taking part!!!! And thanks to the many sponsors from RCKGM!!

PRESIDENTIAL QUOTATIONS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER AND WITH PERHAPS SOME REPETION!!

There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem while a concerned person solves a problem.

@@@

To get people to hear what you say, speak from the head: to get people to feel what you say speak from the heart.

@@@

After a certain point money is meaningless. It ceases to be the goal. The game is what counts. Aristotle Onassis

URCHIN