THE ARMED SERVICES
Local people brought a wide variety of skills to the garrison, either in uniform as members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps or the Chinese Division of the Royal Navy, or as civilians in a wide range of jobs. As the garrison drew down, the number of Chinese personnel, both military and civilian, reduced. The welfare of these employees was of paramount concern and there were extensive resettlement and retraining programmes for the garrison's Chinese employees to train them for, and to help them find, employment once their service with the garrison was no longer required.
Just as the community played an important part in the life of the garrison, the garrison itself took an active role in the lives of local communities. In addition to participation in displays and open days enjoyed by thousands of people, smaller groups of servicemen and women and their families supported a wide variety of charities and involved themselves in projects concerning the young, the elderly and the disabled.
Garrison teams and individuals also played a leading role in the territory's sporting programme. For the first time in their sporting history the British Forces and the PLA formed a joint rugby team to take on a visiting side from the UK, at Borneo Lines, Shek Kong. This was not only the first sporting fixture with the PLA but also represented the first contact, literally at grassroots level, between the British Forces and the PLA. In 1996, for the second time in its history, stewarding of the Hong Kong Sevens International Rugby Tournament was entirely in military hands with more than 250 Gurkhas from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles bringing their special brand of friendly authority to the stadium. Gurkha military engineers provided the design expertise and manpower for the construction of various youth projects, and several hundred youngsters attended camps run by the garrison to experience a variety of activities, including physical training, assault courses, shooting, map-reading, first aid, hill-walking, canoeing and sailing.
The Hong Kong Locally Engaged Personnel Welfare Trust was officially launched in 1994. It aims to help any Hong Kong ex-servicemen, and their dependants, who find themselves in hardship, distress or poverty after the departure of the British Garrison. It is run by a board of military and civilian trustees and will come into effect on July 1, 1997.
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