Application for admission to Primary 1 of Ying Wa Primary School

Dear members,

Ying Wa Primary School (“YWPS”) will accept applications for admission to Primary 1  students for the year 2024/25 between 19th July 2023 to 23rd July 2023 through online system. I am glad to inform you that Ying Wa College Old Boys’ Association (“YWCOBA”) has liaised with YWPS to render assistance to Ying Wa Old Boys who wish their sons to be admitted to Primary 1 of YWPS subject to the following conditions :-

1) The father of the son(s), must be a paid-up member of YWCOBA for the past two years (i.e. full 24 months counting back from the date of the deadline).
2) The conduct of his son(s) must not be poor in his (their) present school(s).
3) The candidates should meet the minimum standard of academic capability as set by the School.

If your son wishes to apply for a Primary 1 place in YWPS, you are required to make the online application and submit to YWPS directly. You may wish to get the latest information about the application from the website of YWPS (http://www.yingwaps.edu.hk) and make inquiry to YWPS for details of the application if necessary.

If you wish YWCOBA to render assistance in the application, please remember to print a copy of the application form before proceeding to the page for payment of the  application fee. You should then send the copy of the application form together with the confirmation email with an application number from YWPS to the office of Ying Wa College for the attention of Ms. Tsui through email tyf@yingwa.edu.hk on or before 24th July 2023 (Monday).

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Convenor for Student Affairs at info@ywcoba.com.

Yours sincerely,
Gareth Ng
Chairman

205th Anniversary Gala Dinner

Dear fellow members,

While we still recall five years ago, we all gathered to celebrate the Bicentenary of Ying Wa College, November 2023 will be another opportunity to gather to celebrate our alma mater’s 205th anniversary.

You are cordially invited to join us for an exceptional occasion – the Ying Wa College 205th anniversary gala dinner. This special evening is to honor the School’s long-standing history and success in terms of its contributions and impact to society by its graduates in religion, translation, printing and education.

The 205th anniversary Gala Dinner will be held on
Date : 26 November 2023, Sunday at 7:00pm
Venue : Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Level 1 at Phase I, Convention Hall.

Pricing Details

Price

Reservation Period

$1,500/person

($18,000/table of 12)

Table guaranteed if whole table is booked by using Reservation Form (Appendix A) by 30th June 2023.

Please note there are two phases of reservation, details are listed in the reservation below :

Reservation Details

Please note the following points regarding the booking for the 205th anniversary Gala Dinner:

First Phase (from now to 30th June 2023)

  • Bookings by old boys and must be one table minimum (12 persons per table) and tables will be guaranteed.

  • As such, please contact your Class Reps to include your booking, or group your classmates together to make your booking. Appendix B contains the information of your Class Reps. If you cannot find your Class Reps, please contact OBA’s 205 Gala Dinner Committee by WhatsApp (see also Appendix B), or email to 205GalaDinner@ywcoba.com (particularly for overseas old boys).

  • Preferably reservation to be made by Class Reps, a completed Reservation Form (Appendix A) with proof of payment (cheque, deposit or transfer slip) needs to be either mailed or faxed to YWC School Office (校務處).

Second Phase (from 1st July 2023 to 25th October 2023)

  • Bookings by seat(s), Seating arrangement will be made by OBA.
  • A completed Reservation Form (Appendix A) with proof of payment (cheque, deposit or transfer slip) needs to be either mailed or faxed to YWC School Office (校務處) or email to 205GalaDinner@ywcoba.com.

We shall confirm the reservation in both First and Second Phases by contacting the sender of the Reservation Form within 14 days upon receipt of the form.

Donation Pledge

We feel proud that Ying Wa old boys have a strong tradition of being grateful to their teachers and very anxious to meet them on the occasion. We have invited many teachers (most in retirement) to attend the dinner. If you do wish to make a donation as sponsorship, please contact our committee or email to 205GalaDinner@ywcoba.com.

We look forward to seeing you all at the memorable event on 26 November 2023.

Best regards,
Gareth Ng
Chairman

Monthly Networking Event Resume

Please kindly note that the monthly networking gathering for Ying Wa boys and friends will be resumed. The first will be:


Date: 19th May 2023, Friday (6:30 pm to 9:00 pm)
Venue: J’s Bar Bistro, The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East.
Drinks arrangement:
OBA Member $180 per head,
Non-Member $200 per head
Two drinks coupons (selected house wine/beer/cocktail/soft drinks with nibbles and snacks for sharing.)

This is a regular casual networking occasion for old boys of all age groups and looking forward to seeing you all on 1st Friday evening of each month. No preregistration required. Should you require any further information or have any other suggestions, please feel free to contact one of our Recreation Conveners below.

Best regards,
Philip Yeung 楊偉炫, 1994 (philip.yeungwy@gmail.com)
Eric Poon (潘燿基) 1998 (eric_ykpoon@hotmail.com )
YWCOBA Recreation

Ying Wa Archive Room Treasure

The Ying Wa College Archivist has completed cataloguing the donations of heritage artifacts from alumni celebrating the Ying Wa College 200th Anniversary. Some of the artifacts have been used in exhibitions and commemorative publications.

Ms Jane Sze has recorded about 70 groups of donations. All catalogued items are now packed in accordance with archival practice with preservative materials. They will be available for viewing and research in the Archives Room with prior permission and arrangements ( email address being skyj@yingwa.edu.hk)

Our applause and appreciation to Archivist Ms Jane Sze for her splendid work!!

英華書院長跑日 家長、校友及老師邀請賽

長跑日又返黎喇!

🟩書院將於本年4月4日(二)舉行長跑日,設邀請賽事,詳情如下:

🟦地點:馬鞍山海濱長廊 (烏溪沙)

🟦起跑時間:約9:30am (9:00am 熱身)

🟦路線:約3公里
(由烏溪沙青年新村出發,沿海濱長廊,再原路折返於烏溪沙青年新村完結)

🟦組別:家長、校友及老師(分男子及女子)

🟦獎項:每組冠軍設有獎盃,亞軍至第10名設獎牌乙面。

🟦頒獎時間:大約中午12時

🟧現誠邀各位校友踴躍參與,與師弟們一齊感受長跑日的盛況,長跑日當天亦歡迎校友到場觀看、打氣。 所有入場人士須遵守學校指示,保持秩序。當日場地不設泊車。

🟥有興趣的校友請於 3月19日(星期日)或之前 將中文姓名、屆別及電話號碼發送至黃子榮 (drwongtszwing@gmail.com )及趙緯樂 (sunny.israel@gmail.com),資料會再轉發至書院負責體育老師作報名用途,謝謝!

周日友誼球賽報名

  1. 開放時間為星期日早上10時至下午1時。早上10時之前,為書院校隊練習時間,校友請勿太早進駐場地,以免影響校隊練習!
  2. 現階段只開放 足球場,5樓籃球場 及 乒乓球枱予校友會會員,暫不開放與家屬,盡量減低風險。
  3. 出席者,需預先向校友會報名。https://forms.gle/BFFR89CPKyh6FWTF9
  4. 出席者須由英華街進出,進入時必須在警衛前 確認身份。
  5. 請知悉 政府衞生署及有關部門可以要求提交本報名資料予其跟進或處理相關事宜。

THE KING AND I: A Short History of Mr Rex King

by Albert KingFan Ng (YWC 1977)

It was 24 Jan 2023 (Tu), two days before Australia Day. I finally located Mr Rex King, Principal of Ying Wa College 1972-1978. A blessing, we have crossed paths with each other for 5 years as I was a Ying Wa boy 1972-1977. When I called him on the phone, the voice on the other end sounded a bit hesitant as if he was talking to a “stranger” who was one of his tens of thousands of students from decades gone by. But once the ice was broken, we had a decent 3-minute talk on the phone and arranged the rendezvous with “the Godfather of Hong Kong public exams” I later jokingly referred to him as.

His residence is basically a home for senior retirees with independent living: he has his own apartment on the ground floor with a lounge, a kitchen, a bedroom and a washroom. There are staff on duty round-the-clock catering to the needs of the residents. Meals are provided and the seniors mingle and enjoy communal living. He purchased this current residence over a decade ago. This was financed by a property he purchased when he first moved to Adelaide at the age of 60. That first property he bought had a seaview from the balcony and the house was freestanding on a block of land. The value of that house tripled over a decade when he sold it. When he was in Hong Kong, he owned an apartment in Kwun Tong in Kowloon; then he moved to Hong Kong Island. The value of the property hiked when he left Hong Kong. With the proceeds, he purchased the posh house in Adelaide upon resettlement.

Once I stepped into his apartment, I spotted a stack of photos on the coffee table in the lounge. My photo with my name printed on it was on the top page. How meticulously prepared was this old man who lost very little of his drive to perfection!

As we sat down and briefly introduced ourselves, we started touching on the many anecdotes of our days in YWC, and a few names were mentioned. But what I really wanted to find out on this mission was the howabouts and lwhereabouts of this man, an almost god-like figure in my 5 years with him, before he entered YWC and after he left YWC. That is the gap I was eager to fill.

He revealed that he once had an elder sister two years his senior but she fell off the horse that got frightened by a piece of falling paper and an oncoming car. Riding bareback, she was thrown off the horse and died. Mr King was barely twelve and from then on, he was never on horseback. That obviously left a traumatic dent on everyone in the family and he became the only child in the house.

He lived on a sheep farm and used to do all sorts of farmwork including milking the cow. He also perfected the skill of delivering a lamb single-handedly. With one foot on the sheep’s neck and the other on its behind to immobilise the mother, he pulled the lamb out from the sheep’s womb with both hands, sometimes putting his hands into the sheep to deliver the baby lamb. The lambs were sold on the market: that was the major source of income. Another source of income was from sheep shearing.

His father worked at an abattoir, mainly in the office, not a worker slaughtering the animals. He was into heavy smoking and alcohol. He died of a heart attack in his 40s. That is why Mr King touched neither in his whole life. His dad also missed joining the New Zealand Army in the World War because he had crossed toes and it was his deep regret when his mates all went to war. His dad also bought a large acreage for farming and a Ford model T2 which was left behind for them. Mr King learnt his driving using the T2 which he had to wind a handle to start the car (like lighting the spark plug in a modern car). After his father died, his mother took over the chores of the farm. After he entered university, he would still return to the farm to help out during holiday breaks.

He was a 100% country boy as he used to live half an hour from the nearest town, Invercargill, the southernmost city of New Zealand. People often say if you take one more step you’ll fall off the world. It frosts in the morning about 20 days a year. So Mr King went to school with frost all over his legs as shorts were worn for the school uniform. He started off wanting to major in Maths but found himself not coping at a higher level. He dropped Maths and majored in English instead. He earned two degrees, one from the University of Otago in Dunedin and the other from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.

In New Zealand, he served a mandatory 6-month conscription as bugle boy. But whenever he played the bugle at home, the dogs would keep barking. He learnt to use all sorts of firearms but missed serving in the Korean War (which happened too early for his age) and the Vietnam War (which started too late).

His coming to Hong Kong was in fact his own choice. He studied Hong Kong from many editions of the Hong Kong Yearbook before the journey (again a tell-tale sign of his meticulous personality). He came as a missionary teacher with the United Church of Christ (UCC) which merged the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. He arrived in 1963 and spent 2 years as an English teacher in Ho Fook Tong College near Castle Peak which was still a small fishing village then. He then accepted the offer of principalship at Ming Yin College in Shek Kip Mei in Kowloon. He was actually involved from its construction to its opening and then its operation as a school. He had fond memories of Ming Yin College, the youngest school then that he pioneered. He also treasured his time in YWC as it is the oldest school. We also discussed the dispute on the oldest school reputation of YWC, the Malacca phase of YWC and Morrison, etc.

He remembered visiting 3 Hong Kong Governors in their house through his connection with a Hong Kong high ranking official whose name he evaded. He couldn’t quite recall which Governors but upon prompting, he named Edward Youde, David Wilson and one other. I mentioned Murray MacLehose but he didn’t concur. He said it was not David Trench. It’s most likely Christopher Patten but he couldn’t name him. But he remembered on one occasion David Trench picked up an English textbook in his school and criticised the standard. When I asked who his most favourite Hong Kong Governor was during his 33 years in Hong Kong, he said it’s between Edward Youde and David Wilson, but definitely not Murray MacLehose.

He also remembered quite clearly the 1967 riot when he was principal of Ming Yin College. Xenophobia prevailed and anti-Western slogans were written all over the walls of Shek Kip Mei. But his school remained open during the whole riot. There was even one student who went to school on foot all the way from Tsuen Wan to Shek Kip Mei at that time, he recalled.

He also recalled getting a friend from New Zealand to teach in Ming Yin College. This New Zealander later became the first principal of Ming Kei College in Tai Kok Tsui in Kowloon, using Ming Yin College as its campus before the construction of its own premises. This gentleman is J K Walls.

After he left YWC in February 1978 (the same year I left YWC), he joined the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA). To enhance his knowledge, he pursued a master degree in education/exam in HKU under the mentorship of Alan Brimer (HKU Dean of Education then), the leading figure in school examinations in the world. Mr King was promoted to Deputy Secretary General (1992–1996) in HKEAA. He was very proud of that as he knew how important he was in that position since public examinations is THE thing in Hong Kong.

During his 19-year tenure in HKEEA, two interesting events stood out from the rest. In the early days of his tenure, the English Examination Paper, after it was finalised, had to be shipped overseas for printing and shipped back to Hong Kong before the exam. While unloading at the wharf, the cargo carrying the exam papers fell off and broke. The papers were scattered all over. The disaster was irreparable. Mr King and his team had to prepare the exam paper anew on Saturday and hand-print it on Sunday. Just in time to be distributed for the exam. The whole event was kept secret from the public. After this accident, the exam paper was printed locally. Then came the next event. One year a part-time worker in the printing room intended to smuggle out an English Exam Paper but was caught red-handed by Mr King.

He also mentioned how crazy Hong Kong parents could be. Students would be coached by private tutors and they worked on sample exam papers. Mr King made every effort to collect the sample papers from these private tutors and made sure that the actual exam paper was set as differently as possible from the sample papers. What a smart gweilo!

He revealed that while working at HKEAA, he missed frontline teaching a lot which is his greatest passion. In his spare time, he offered volunteer work as English teacher two evenings a week at St. Andrew’s Church in Tsimshatsui. He also initiated the Summer with a Purpose (SWAP) program, a 4-week English camp for secondary school students during the summer holiday. There was a quota of 30+ and he allocated half of it to Ying Wa boys. My niece’s husband, Daniel YiuKwok To (YWC 1998) was one of the participants in the SWAP program. We visited Mr King together in this Adelaide trip. After relocating to Adelaide, he was still active in volunteer teaching in the local community, mainly teaching Chinese migrant students for some 12 years before complete retirement. He is definitely a teacher at heart through and through.

I also commented on his accent or rather lack of KIWI accent during our chat. To my understanding, he came to Hong Kong in his 20s, an age most would retain their accent. His answer was that his accent was mid-Pacific which is a hybrid of New Zealand, Hong Kong and Australia.

Regarding his ancestry, he remarked that his surname came from someone who played the role of KING in a medieval pageant in the 14th to 15th century. Mr King was a 4th generation New Zealander who migrated from Australia. He reconfirmed that he was not of convict stock!

When I asked him about his choice of retiring in Adelaide instead of New Zealand, his answer was that he preferred a place not as busy as Hong Kong but more vibrant than New Zealand, kind of the middle of the road. These days, he does morning walks in the neighbourhood as exercise and plays snooker with his friends in the residence. In fact someone called him for a game during our visit but he turned him down. He usually spends an hour daily playing snooker. He is good enough to have a break of 20s, a skill that requires sinking at least 3 colour balls.

When asked to recommend a novel or an author to us (since he majored in English), he said he couldn’t. He spends most of his time on the internet these days. He used to play cricket at a young age. These days he watches sports on TV instead, but he’s not fanatic. He usually goes to bed at 10-11pm. Before going to bed, he watches TV, mostly on recorded news and documentaries.

Regarding his health, I deliberately left it to the end as I wasn’t sure if he wanted to discuss that. I bought him some cakes and fresh fruits. His immediate comment was 2/10 for cakes and 10/10 for fruits because he is type 2 diabetic. But he did eat a cheesecake in quite high spirits. He was adamant that physically he’s still in top shape. Just his memory at times gets the better of him. He also revealed that he successfully fought off 2 bouts of cancers, bowel cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Both have been in remission for a long time.

I think it’s important to put some notes on my meeting with this 85-yr-old, a man I once found formidable. He is a living testimony of “West meets East” in the last century particularly for his contribution to HK. There is so much he wants to get off his chest, maybe before his memory starts to twindle. I have tried my best to cross-check some of the facts, especially names and times, on the internet. I have also omitted some stories which are either contradictory in timing or irrelevant to most of us. It’s still possible that some of his recollections could be slightly inaccurate. He told me that if he were to write his biography, it would be in 3 sections: 26 years in New Zealand, 33 years in Hong Kong, and the 26+ years in Adelaide. I feel obliged to at least accomplish part of that in writing before it’s too late.

Afternote:

We had a second meeting, dinner in a Chinese restaurant, on 27 Jan 2023. When I dropped him off after dinner in his residence, I farewelled him at the gate and told him that we would see each other next time I visit Adelaide. He replied, “Could be in my cemetery.” My heart sank and this old man slowly disappeared in the distance.

Further Reading:

https://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/40years/loadeb8b.html?id=294077

YWCOBA Startups Sharing: NLP (自然語言處理) in Professional and Customer Services

Date: 10 January 2023 (Tue)
Time: 7:00 p.m – 10:00 p.m
Place: Hong Kong Medical Association – Central Club House
2/F, The Chinese Club Building, 21-22 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

Fee: HK$400 for members / HK$480 for non-members / HK$200 for GAP member university student

(Chinese banquet is included in the dine-out sharing talk)

Guests of Honor:
Colin Hong 洪振東 (YWC 1988)
Co-founder and CEO of DeepTranslate

Chris Shum 岑潮輝 (YWC 1995)
Co-founder and CFO of AsiaBots

Jovian Ling 林正輝 (YWC 2003)
Co-founder and CEO of Set Sail Software

For seat reservation, please learn more and register via the link ( https://bit.ly/3WrBCb9 )!  Come with your missed classmates and make it a YWC reunion for yourselves!! 

Notice of AGM – Ying Wa College Old Boys’ Association Limited

Dear Members,

Annual General Meeting for the year 2022 of Ying Wa College Old Boys’ Association Limited (“YWCOBA”) will be convened and held at Ying Wa College ,  Ying Wa Street, Shamshuipo, Kowloon, Hong Kong on Thursday, the 24th day of November 2022 at 7:30p.m.

There will be a dinner after the AGM at Noble Hall, RSVP to register your seat by filling in the Google form  Here  before noon 21st November 2022

For enquiries, please contact Mr. Gareth Ng ( garethckng@gmail.com ) or Mr. Rex Liu ( rexlh.liu@gmail.com )

Yours faithfully,

YWCOBA Executive Committee