Rotary Club of Hong Kong South history

In June 1972, a group of senior Rotarians gathered at the American Club, Ice House Street, Hong Kong to discuss the formation of a new Rotary Club on the southern part of the island of Hong Kong.  This meeting was chaired by the then-District Governor Robert Chao and representatives of three Rotary Clubs on the Island.  It was during this discussion that Past President Dennis Ting of the Hong Kong Island East Club, later to become Charter President of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong South, was asked to a make a feasibility study for the founding of the new club.  Past President Dennis, as special representative for the new club, gathered a number of socially active executives within this district who basically had a keen interest in Rotary, and several meetings were held at the Hong Kong Country Club with the intent of forming the new club.  It was at these meetings that it was decided the official name was to be the Rotary Club of Hong Kong South.  Our official application for the inauguration of the new club was sent to Rotary International on the 26th of January 1973.  Towards the end of April 1973, we were informed that Rotary International had accepted the application for our Club.  The official charter was handed over on the eve of the 15th of June, 1973, our Charter Night.

Officers elected from the 33 charter members were Dennis Ting as Charter President, Victor Steiner as Vice President, Fred Lewis as Honorary Secretary, Alf Taylor as Honorary Treasurer, and the following Directors: Roger Gunn, L.S. Leung, Donald Chanwai, Joe Lemaire, Ian McKelvie, Ed Jones.

The Club’s territorial limits were all that area of Hong Kong Island to the south of a line drawn due west from the Eastern Coast to Pottinger Peak and extended by straight lines to join Mount Collinson, Boa Vista, Mount Nicholson and towards Victoria Peak to a point where it is intersected by a line drawn in a northerly direction along the alignment of Arsenal Street, thence in a northerly direction along that line to a point where it joins the city boundary, thence in westerly direction along the city boundary to a point where it is intersected by a line drawn along the alignment of Queen Victoria Street to Victoria Peak, thence in a south-westerly direction along that line to Victoria Peak, thence a westerly direction to the junction of Mount Davis Road and Pokfulam Road, thence along Mount Davis Road to its junction with Victoria Road and thence to the Western Coast where the harbour boundary meets the coast.

Since the formation of the Club, our Community projects have been based on club participation, where members personally become involved with a particular project within the Community.