On March 25, our Club met via Zoom. It was a regular Club meeting that happily coincided with our Club’s anniversary. To mark the special occasion, all five of our Charter Members who are still active in our Club today: Charter President Patrick, Past President Charles, Past President Peter, Past President Kay and Past President Antonio, were invited as special speakers to share their memories of the early days of our Club. Several special guests also attended, including our Honorary Member Professor Tim Tong. Past President Eric Wong, our Club’s second President, also attended. As did Past President Douglas (our 14th President), Past President Veronica (our 15th President), and Gilbert Chan, a past member who was active in the early days of our Club. From service projects and youth development to sports day and overseas trips, members shared their memories of being a Hong Kong Harbour Rotarian. The meeting ended with Past President Douglas thanking our Club for supporting his fundraising event at his current Club in the United States, Rotary Club of Walnut Grove, and wishes to maintain active connection with our Club through his Rotary and community work in the United States.
Due to the ongoing pandemic and our District Governor’s call to continue to meet virtually as much as we can, our Club conducted our regular meeting on December 17 on Zoom. Professor Tim Tong, our Honorary Member, joined our meeting. Amy and Catherine also joined. Rotarian Eliza joined from her quarantine hotel with makeshift Christmas gear. The “regular” meeting was anything but regular: in addition to the regular reporting of Club and District activities, it functioned as our Club’s second assembly of the Rotary year, our annual general meeting, and our annual Christmas party. It would also be our Club’s first ever online AGM, first ever online Christmas party, and, amazingly, despite having weathered near a year of pandemic, our first ever online assembly. At the beginning of our meeting, Past President Dora announced the passing of Past President Feeling (Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast). Those who knew Past President Feeling personally would most certainly agree that Past President Feeling was a most generous and warm person, a loving mother, a dear wife and a committed Rotarian. Past President Dora gave a long and heart-felt tribute to our beloved sister, who has been a bedrock of warmth and love to…
Charter President Patrick nominated, and our Board has duly considered and approved Professor MF Yuen, a world-class clinician researcher and teacher at HKU, to be our Club’s third Honorary Member, after Honorary Members Vivien Lau and Professor Tim Tong. Welcome Professor Yuen to the world of Rotary!
On December 19, our Club hosted a trifecta of meetings: Board Meeting, Club Assembly, and Annual General Meeting. At Club Assembly, President Mark shared with attendees the progress of various projects, including our Global Grant projects with Rotary Clubs of Pudu and Taoyuan Southeast. President Mark also detailed our Club’s plans to go ahead with putting together a project with Hummingfish Foundation. At Annual General Meeting, members approved, among other things, the financial accounts of RY2018-2019, expertly prepared by last year’s Treasurer Barry. After President Mark declared the closure of Annual General Meeting, our Christmas-themed party began. The dinner menu was specially designed by Regal’s catering for the occasion, with a colorful and delicious dessert spread to complement the festivity of the evening. President Mark and Rotarian Sam brought wines and whiskeys, respectively. Before tasting, our resident sommelier Past President Kay shared a bit of information and history about the wines on offer: one Chateau Montelena and one Negru de Purcari, a prized Moldovan wine brought home by President Mark when he visited Château Purcari near the Ukrainian border in Moldova half a decade ago. Members lucky enough to be sitting at Rotarian Sam’s table also got his expert take…
On December 12, Mr. Dixon Ip, a coffee connoisseur and a certified judge in coffee events around the world, came to our Club to talk about his most passionate topic: coffee. Mr. Ip is a friend of our Club’s honorary member Prof. Tim Tong. While most of us mortals drink coffee for its caffeine, Mr. Ip approaches coffee with the scientific rigor of a world-class lab researcher and the intense passion of a restless teenager. In Mr. Ip’s eyes, coffee is not just a drink; it is an ode to all the hard work that goes into it, from the farmers cultivating the coffee plants to the roasters experimenting with varied roasting temperatures. Mr. Ip is especially passionate about the cultivation process – something that has led him to travel all around the world in search of different agricultural techniques and pre-processing styles. As a coffee judge, he has also traveled around the world for coffee and barista competitions and, in the process, has probably seen more latte art than all of us – combined. Mr. Ip believes that coffee consumption has also changed over the years. Consumers are now paying more attention to package labeling. Whereas just a decade…
On July 13, 10 Harbour Rotarians attended District Installation at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was a long evening with a ton of speeches, but also a ton of fun.