Author name: RCommSHK

Commonwealth Chamber HK Charles III Coronation Dinner Photo Album March 11, 2023 On 6 May 2023, The Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong and the RCS Hong Kong jointly hosted a livestream & dinner event at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong in celebration of the coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III. View the photo album here https://commonwealthchamberhk.com/kings-coronation-dinner-photo-album/

Remembrance Day November 14, 2022 The Wind Up Robot Waters Tiny Plants A small tin wind-up robot — silver body, round head with antenna, glowing red eyes, clunky rectangular feet — walks slowly and stiffly along the windowsill carrying a tiny watering can made from a thimble with a pin as a spout. He stops at each tiny plant pot — there are five in a row, each containing a miniature succulent — and carefully tips the thimble watering can over each one. Water trickles out in a thin stream. He moves to the next one with his characteristic stiff robotic walk. His chest light blinks slowly amber as he works. When he reaches the last plant he turns, looks at his work, gives a single satisfied robotic nod and walks back. Camera is at windowsill level. Moonlight from behind the curtain edges backlights the scene softly.

Chairman of RCS, HK Branch, Peter Mann, receives his MBE from HRH The Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle on 8 June 2022 June 16, 2022 Chairman of RCS, HK Branch, Peter Mann, receives his MBE from HRH The Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle on 8 June 2022.

Platinum Jubilee Dinner | 1 Jun 2022 June 6, 2022 From right: Alexandra Tracy (Vice-chair), Brian Davidson CMG, British Consul General, Shari Small, South African Consul General, Nicholas Tam (Young Fellows), Neville Shroff JP (Vice-chair)

Hong Kong celebrates Commonwealth Day 2022 April 12, 2022 Since the Royal Commonwealth Society Hong Kong Branch (RCSHK) was established in 1983, RCSHK has customarily celebrated Commonwealth Day with a cocktail reception at The Hong Kong Club attended by branch members, the Commonwealth consular corps, and a diverse range of citizens and friends of the Commonwealth community in Hong Kong. For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, due to current government regulations RCSHK took to Zoom to host a Virtual Commonwealth Day 2022 celebration in collaboration with our friends at the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong (CCCHK). This was RCSHK’s inaugural virtual event, with the branch having succeeded in organising regular physical events throughout the ongoing pandemic period notwithstanding the limitations imposed by social distancing requirements.   Approximately 50 attendees representing the Commonwealth community in Hong Kong and the Asia region joined the virtual event, which was addressed by RCSHK Chairman, Mr. Peter Mann MBE, CCCHK Chairman, Ms. Julia Charlton, and RCSHK Co-Patron, Mr. Andrew Wells. The Commonwealth Affirmation was led by Peter Mann, with HM British Consul-General to Hong Kong, Mr. Brian Davidson CMG reading HM The Queen’s Commonwealth Day Message 2022. The honour of reading HM The Queen’s Commonwealth Day message rotates annually amongst the Commonwealth consuls-general in Hong Kong. Other members of the Commonwealth diplomatic corps in attendance included the consuls-general from Bangladesh, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Singapore.     The honour of proposing the Loyal Toast to HM The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth in this special year of the Platinum Jubilee fell to Mr Nicholas Tam, RCSHK Council Member and Chairman of the RCSHK Young Fellows. Attendees drank enthusiastically to the good health of HM The Queen, with many looking forward to the Platinum Jubilee Dinner scheduled for Thursday 2 June 2022 at The Hong Kong Club. The event concluded with a Commonwealth Quiz hosted by Nicholas Tam, which tested participants on their knowledge of the Commonwealth. Split into two rounds of twelve questions, participants demonstrated their knowledge of (or otherwise learned) a series of fun facts about the Commonwealth, including the following:   Singapore is the Commonwealth country with the highest GDP per capita; Tuvalu has the smallest population of any Commonwealth country; ‘Nollywood’, as Nigeria’s movie industry is known, is larger than Hollywood and second only to India’s Bollywood for number of movies produced; The Commonwealth is home to 33% of the global population; Lawn Bowls is played at the Commonwealth Games, but not the Olympics; Botswana is the Commonwealth’s largest diamond producer (by carats), and second globally (behind Russia) French, Mandarin, and Portuguese are all official languages of at least one Commonwealth country Each $1 spent by the host city of the Commonwealth Games generates $2 for the local economy   Congratulations to Keith Jones, David Keating, Shanling Wells, Tony Lau, Victor Hui and Hari Om Dahiya for ranking among the top scorers. Each will receive one bottle of Commonwealth wine as a prize, kindly sponsored by The Honourable Jeffrey Lam GBS JP, Honorary Advisor to CCCHK.   Author Nicholas Tam is Council Member and Young Fellows Chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society Hong Kong Branch. He is qualified to practise law in Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, and relocated from Australia to Hong Kong in 2013.   This article was originally published on Royal Commonwealth Society and is reproduced here with permission. [View the original post →]

RCS Cricket Cup | 20 Nov 2020 November 22, 2020 Children from Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities who are struggling with language benefit from charity cricket event News from South China Morning Post This article was originally published on South China Morning Post  [View the original post →]

Shakespeare evening | 5 Feb 2020 February 6, 2020 RCS, Hong Kong Branch organized a Shakespeare evening for 30 fellows on 5 February at the Hong Kong Club. The dinner theatre included a Bard’s Quiz, first prize of which was a free birthplace tour kindly donated by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust at Stratford-upon-Avon. Here actor Daniel Foley is seen giving a Shakespeare masterclass to Consul General for Canada, Jeff Nankivell.

Burns Supper | 26 Jan 2019 January 28, 2019 RCS HK Branch celebrated their traditional Burns Night Supper on 26 January at the Ladies Recreation Club. Around 80 guests enjoyed the Address to the Haggis, Toast to the Lassies and Reply from the Lassies. At midnight all sang Auld Lang Syne before departing.

Remembrance Sunday | 11 Nov 2018 November 11, 2018 Exactly one hundred years after the Armistice in 1918, Mr Peter Mann, Mrs Joan Campbell and Dr Verner Bickley lay a wreath on behalf of RCS, HK Branch at the Cenotaph. RCSHK Chairman and Council members