LADIES RECREATION CLUB
Architect: ERIC CUMINE, F. R. I. B. A.
Early in August, the new building of the Ladies Recreation Club in Prak Road was officially opened by Lady Grantham.
The Club, which caters for more diff:^r.
ent forms of recreation than any other in the Colony, has a long and interesting
history.
The first Crown Lease was granted to the Club in 1883 and the first premises were officially opened in February 1881, by Lady Bowen, the wife of the Governor then holding office.
At that time, the records read "when
the funds of the Club permit. a pavilion will be built on the spot, but in the mean- time there is no shelter of any kind erect- Lady Bowen opened the Club by delivering a few balls in one of the Courts.'
ed
The Club is referred to in Rudyard Kipling's book "'From Sea to Sea and other Sketches", compiled between 1887 and 1889. He likened Hong Kong to an Indian up-country station and says of the ladies of the Colony "The mechanism of their life is much the same. In one point they are superior. The Ladies have a Club of their own to which, I believe, men ure only allowed to come on sufferance.'
Things have changed since Kipling's days, however, and at present slightly more than half of the goo members are In order to preserve the character of the Club though, the General and Bal- loting Committees are composed entirely of ladies, who also hold all voting powers. Nevertheless, the male members have proved invaluable as legal and financial advisers.
During the years before the Second World War, an enterprising committee of the Club dug up one of the concrete ten- nis courts and laid a modern brick dust court; this was the first in the Colony and proved to be a great and immediate suc-
The Club photographed from May Road
cess. Others followed and when the war came, only two concrete courts and none of the grass courts remained.
At the end of hostilities, the Club build-
A
Last year,
Government constructed concrete covering to the Albany Reservoir and permitted that space to be used for tennis courts, provided the Club woubl ing and grounds were found to be in very 24 cars within their existing boundaries. agree to incorporate parking facilities for bad condition. In fact, during the Japan- Subsequently plans were prepared, and ese occupation, the Ladies Recreation Club heap. The Club was resuscitated early in was reduced to a car park and a rubbish approved, for the new Club building with
more than adequate parking space. 1946, when only two concrete courts were Reservoir area and three new tennis courts lease was then granted for the Albany fit to play on. climbed to the pre-eminent position it now back for the most energetic of players:
Since then it has slowly
were laid out there, with plenty of room
occupies in the Colony's social life.
these courts are ideally situated at the From December 31st, 1946, to Decem- foot of a green valley, overlooking the ber 31st, 1954, rehabilitation and develop harbour. Trees have been planted, and it ment of the L.R.C. involved the expen- is expected that as these grow it will be diture of approximately $400,000.
possible to dispense with the usual screens.
Detail of the main elevation of the club-house
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RPG. ROOM
SERVICE EAR
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BADMINTON
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