Genesis: If you can imagine that the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile as a young lady, then she was conceived on 19 November 1986, she was born on 25 February 1987, after a brief but complicated term, and she made her formal debut to the world of Rotary International on 11 April 1987.

PP Larry quickly approached his younger brother Chandru, a highly respected and experienced Rotarian from the RC of Tsimshatsui East, and asked him to be Charter President of the proposed new club. Without hesitation, Chandru accepted the challenge, despite knowing that the formation of a new club with virtually all novice Rotarians was not going to be an easy task. Chandru, in turn, recruited his good friend Robin Ching, another knowledgeable and capable Rotarian from the RC of Tsimshatsui East, to help him get his project off the ground.

PP Larry

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On 19 November 1986 the first planning meeting was held. Letters were sent to local business leaders and executives inviting them to become members, and 50 people responded positively and attended the meeting. In addition to the prospective members, PDG Peter Hall (賀錦平), District Governor Nominee Raymond Wong (黃志偉), District Secretary John Sze and District 345 Special Representative Larry Parmanand were also in attendance. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the aims and objectives of Rotary to the prospective members, and Chandru and his team of advisors were delighted to see that interest was high.

One week later on 26 November 1986, a second planning meeting was held, and the groundwork for formation of the club was discussed in much greater detail. The Rotary Club of Golden Mile was mooted as the name of the provisional club, however the word "Kowloon" was later added to the club name, which would be known thereafter as the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile.

At that meeting, the key inaugural officer bearers of the club were named: President, Chandru Parmanand; Vice President, Roger Thomas; Secretary, John Fisher; Treasurer, Michael Ainslie. Prospective members of the club were announced, visiting Rotarians and guests were introduced, and visiting Rotarians were then proudly informed that they could receive attendance credits at future meetings.

It was decided that the meeting place for the club would be the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, and that meetings would be held every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. Although Rotary International required 20 members before it would recognize a provisional club, the experienced Rotarians of the new club decided that an application to Rotary International would not be made, until the club had at least 25 charter members,

During the remaining few weeks of 1986, many of the tedious tasks that are part and parcel of forming a new club were completed by the new officers. The admission fee and first semi-annual dues were paid to Rotary International in December 1986, and the Standard Rotary Club Constitution and By-laws were also sent to members for their review and eventual adoption. In January 1987, the club opened a current account at the Hong Kong Bank Peninsula Hotel Branch and, by the end of the month, the club had grown to 21 members.

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The first business meeting was held on 4 February 1987, when the Standard Rotary Club Constitution and By-Laws were formally adopted, and a full complement of officer bearers of the club for the 1986/1987 Rotary year were elected: President, Chandru Parmanand; Vice Presidents, Roger Thomas & Robin Ching; Secretary, John Fisher; Treasurer, Michael Ainslie; Directors, Charles Dickson, Gerhard Kropp, Alex Lau, Christopher Adamson-Lund, Emmanuel Samuel, Dipo Sani, Roberto Tan & Bernard Vigneau. One week later applications and filing fee for membership were sent to Rotary International, and the membership list, now totaling 30 members, also included Dayal Aswani, Alfred Au, Francis Chan, Richard Chang, Aidra Endo, Norris Hickerson, Samuel Lam, Francis O'Tremba, Don Sakhrani, Hans Schult, Kenneth So, Bryan Stove, Tommy Tan, Notan Tolani, C.K. Tsang, Clifford Webb and Peter Yu.

On 25 February 1987, the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile was officially admitted into Rotary International, however the Certificate of Charter was presented to Charter President Chandru by M.A.T. Caparas, then President of Rotary International, at a District Inter-City meeting held on 11 April 1987. The club was delighted and honoured to receive its' official Charter from the incumbent President of Rotary International.

Although the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile is still a young lady, her brief history is filled with some truly remarkable achievements. Each new President of the club is inspired by the tone and character firmly established by Charter President Chandru and they have all attempted to lead the club in the knowledge that they have a very hard act to follow. Despite this, they have managed to do so with flair and distinction, and the following paragraphs are a brief summary of each President's achievements during their term of office.

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In addition to the tremendous work required to get the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile off the ground, Charter President Chandru Parmanand can take most of the credit for a leading our very young club through a year of great achievement.

The club's first target was to raise the significant sum of US$10,000 for the Rotary International "Polio Plus" project, and President Chandru appointed Dipo Sani to head the fund raising campaign. With the aid of a small committee of dedicated Rotarians and their families, a cookbook was conceived, designed, published and sold entirely by club members to raise the targeted funds. The club managed to raise the full US$10,000 in less than a year, and the club was awarded the "Highest Contribution to the Rotary Foundation" award, in recognition of it's achievement.

The club membership at 30 June 1988 stood at 37, an increase of 7 members (23.33%) over the previous year.

(CP Chandru Parmanand now resides in Australia and is an Honorary Member of KGM.)

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Rotary Year 1988/1989: "Put Life into Rotary - Your Life" "把你的生命活力獻給扶輪" RI President A. R. Royce Abbey (RC Essendon, Victoria, Australia) DG Raymond C. W. Wong 黃志偉 (RC Kowloon East)*
Club President: Robin Ching (程式榮)	President Robin

* Due to the untimely death of DG Elect C.K. Lo (RC Hong Kong), DG Raymond Wong was obliged to remain in office and serve a second term as DG.

President-Elect: Emmanuel Samuel, Vice-President: Dipo Sani, Secretary: Alex Lau, Treasurer: Francis Chan, Community Service: Rajiv Makhija, Vocational Service: Hans Schult, International Service: Roberto Tan, Attendance: Richard Chang, Bulletin: David Lovatt, Fellowship: Juergen Baumhoff, Membership Development: Peter Yu, Membership Classification: Edward Shu, Programme: Gary Chan, Rotary Information: CP Chandru Parmanand, Rotary Foundation: Bryan Stove, Sergeant-At-Arms: Charles Mak.

One of the most important things for any new club is membership growth. In the second year of the club's history, under the leadership of President Robin Ching, the club won the District 345 award for "Highest Membership Growth", which was presented to the club at the District Conference held on 31 March, 1989.

During the tenure of President Robin, the club also donated HK$42,000 to the Yiu On Workshop, for the acquisition of new workshop equipment for their 140 disabled workers.

The club membership at 30 June 1989 stood at 45, an increase of 8 members (21.62%) over the previous year.

(PP Robin Ching is now a Senior Active member of KGM.)

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President-Elect: Dipo Sani, Vice-President: Peter Yu, Secretary: Alex Lau, Treasurer: Edward Shu, Community Service: Francis Chan, Vocational Service: Rajiv Makhija, International Service: Hans Schult, Attendance: Gary Chan, Bulletin: Isaac Sofaer, Fellowship: Bryan Stove, Membership Development: David Lovatt, Membership Classification: IPP Robin Ching, Programme: Louis Thomas, Rotary Information: CP Chandru Parmanand, Rotary Foundation: Bernard Brender, Sergeant-At-Arms: Vince Pinto.

Under the leadership of President Emmanuel Samuel, Community Service was a major aim of the year. The club made a generous donation to a local factory employing disabled people, to enable them to outfit their plastic-cutting machinery with shields, so that small particles of plastic would not fly into the machine operator's eyes while they were working.

The club also demonstrated its hospitality and Rotary spirit, by providing home-stay services for Rotarians passing through Hong Kong on their way to the Rotary Convention in Seoul that year. President Emmanuel and a number of other Rotarians welcomed these visitors into their homes, and the club received a citation from the District Governor. Another citation was received by President Emmanuel for acting as counselor to two Rotary Scholars, who received Club Scholarships to study at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The club membership at 30 June 1990 stood at 41, a decrease of 4 members (8.88%) over the previous year.

(PP Emmanuel Samuel is no longer a member of KGM.)

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Rotary Year 1990/1991: "Honor Rotary with Faith and Enthusiasm" "以信心與熱誠弘揚扶輪" RI President Paulo V. C. Costa (RC Santos, Brazil) DG Arthur Au 區錦源 (RC Peninsula)
Club President: Dipo Sani (辛迪寶)	President Dipo

President-Elect: Hans Schult, Vice-President: Louis Thomas, Secretary: Vince Pinto, Treasurer: Edward Shu, Community Service: CP Chandru Parmanand, Vocational Service: Alfred Croucher, International Service: Bryan Stove, Attendance: Joseph Kwan, Bulletin: Vince Pinto, Fellowship: Leslie Hynes, Membership Development: Bernard Brender, Membership Classification: Rajiv Makhija, Programme: Isaac Sofaer, Rotary Information: PP Robin Ching, Rotary Foundation: IPP Emmanuel Samuel, Sergeant-At-Arms: Raju Daswani.

Under the leadership of President Dipo Sani, the club organised its' first Christmas Card design competition at the Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School. The students at this school, who are physically or mentally handicapped, submitted their entries on the theme of "Christmas and the Environment". The six winning artists were awarded prizes, and their designs were then used to produce Christmas cards for sale by club members. The winning students were absolutely thrilled to have entered and won such an important contest.

The project had a twofold significance. Not only did we raise HK$80,000 for our community service fund, but we also observed the Rotary theme of the year "Preserve Planet Earth", because the Christmas cards were printed on recycled paper. The club also had a year of successful membership growth with 16 new members inducted, four of whom were ladies.

In previous years the club newsletter "Golden News" was printed fortnightly but, thanks to the convenience of fax, KGM became the first club in the District to transmit it's weekly bulletin electronically.

The club membership at 30 June 1991 stood at 53, an increase of 12 members (29.27%) over the previous year.

(PP Dipo Sani is now a Senior Active member of KGM and he brought great honour to KGM by becoming the first KGM member to serve as a District Governor - see Rotary year 1999/2000.)

(RI President Paulo V. C. Costa passed away on 10 April 2000)

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Rotary Year 1991/1992: "Look Beyond Yourself" "超越自己向前看" RI President Rajendra "Raja" K. Saboo (RC Chandigarh, India) DG Andres "Andy" Guillen 桂安狄 (RC Victoria)
Club President: Hans Schult	President Hans

President-Elect: Louis Thomas, Vice-President: Vince Pinto, Secretary: Alfred Croucher, Treasurer: Isaac Sofaer, Community Service: Joseph Kwan, Vocational Service: C.K. Tsang, International Service: Juergen Baumhoff, Attendance: Rajiv Makhija, Bulletin: Vince Pinto, Fellowship: CP Chandru Parmanand, Membership Development: PP Emmanuel Samuel, Membership Classification: Bryan Stove, Programme: Walter Whyte, Rotary Information: IPP Dipo Sani, Rotary Foundation: Raju Daswani, Sergeant-At-Arms: Irene O'Shea.

Under the leadership of President Hans Schult, the club had a very active year in International Service programs, including our very first project in China. Through the kind assistance of members C.K. Tsang and Ellena Au, the club supplied urgently needed audio-visual equipment to a school in Shanghai, so that they could in turn produce educational videos for students.

The club also made a significant contribution to support a number of projects at the St. James Settlement, a society for mentally handicapped persons in Hong Kong. The club assisted with funds for their home-based training service for 12 months for over 80 patients, an employment service for another 35 patients, as well as sponsoring a dance contest for all patients at a special party held in July.

The Interact Club of Ying Wa College was also successfully established and it is now the largest Interact Club in Hong Kong, with a membership of over 150 students, who are very active in the community. On the membership front, a total of 13 new members were inducted during the year, and club membership reached a new high of 59 members. The goal of 75% attendance at club meetings was surpassed and, for a number of months during the year, our attendance was the highest in the District.

The club membership at 30 June 1992 stood at 56, an increase of 3 members (5.66%) over the previous year.

(PP Hans Schult passed away on 19 January 1998.)

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