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Continuation.
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While on this subject it is of interest to record the founding of a Hongkong Catholic Club. The Hongkong Times, of February 12, 1874, states:-
"A large number of resident Catholics will rejoice to hear of the establishment of the Hongkong Catholic Church Club. The inauguration took place on Monday last. For this purpose a house has been taken at No. 45 Wyndham Street. English and other newspapers are in the course of being supplied and there is already the nucleus of a good library. Many members have already joined.
I might conclude with a list of the local clubs and associations in existence in 1880. It will be seen that they were many and varied:-
The Hongkong Club, Club Germania (Wyndham Street) Lusitano Club (Shelley Street) Catholic Circle (Corner of Wellington Street and Pottinger Street) Parsee Club (Shelley Street) Victoria Club (Wyndham Street) Hongkong Cricket Club, Hongkong Yacht Club, Victoria Recreation Club, Hongkong Choral Society, Amateur Dramatic Club, Racquet Court Club, and Hongkong Horticultural Society.
In the reference to clubs recently (see 27-9-33.) it's suggested that something might be written about the history of the Victoria Recreation Club. The earlier existence of this sporting club is largely bound up with other institutions that became merged together, and thus a complete history of the V.R.C. is only possible from the Seventies. I understand what this club claims to have been founded in 1849; and if that date be taken, it is easily the oldest sports club in the Colony. The claim is based on one of "descent" from the Victoria Regatta Club, which was started on October 25, 1849, and similar descent is traced through various other clubs until May 1872 when the Victoria Recreation Club so named came into being as an amalgamation of the then existing Boat Club, remnant of the Regatta Club, Gymnasium (started in 1862) and Swimming Bath (opened in 1866) the V.R.C. in its new form opened its doors on November 30, 1872.
The Victoria Regatta Club passed out of existence for a while but was revived in 1860, being reopened on June 28 of that year.
Its site was near the present I.E.C. location and when the amalgamated club was formed the matted clubhouse on the seafront was used. It should be noted that the Regatta Club went in for both sailing and rowing and the Corinthian Yacht Club, which finally went out of existence in 1921, was a successor.
However I digress.
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Continuation.
The Gymnasium was a gymnastic club formed largely through the keenness of the German community of the Sixties. At the instance of certain members of the German Club, an international Gymnasium Committee was formed on November 24, 1862, and a matted gymnasium was erected near the racket court on military ground. This site is shown in the old map published in this...