Sports and recreation
Closely inter-related with welfare are sporting and recrea- tional facilities which play a major role in maintaining a high level of morale within the Force. These are organised at Force, district, divisional and sub-divisional levels, as well as through clubs and associations.
Social and recreational projects include expanding holiday accommodation now available at two locations with plans for further increases. Functions held during the year in- cluded the well-supported police family day, numerous land and launch picnics, divisional social functions and parties. Again, the Police Welfare Fund was used to support these occasions.
Depending on their size, all stations and headquarter complexes have canteens, messes and recreational rooms which form the focal point for many functions for officers and members of the Rank and File.
The Hong Kong Police Sports Association at Boundary Street in Kowloon provides social and sporting amenities for its members, and financial assistance to 19 associated sports clubs. During 1976 considerable improvements were made to the interior of the main clubhouse building.
The Police Motor Sports, Rowing and Judo clubs were formed during the year and the Field Hockey and Ten Pin Bowling clubs were reformed.
Many police representative sports teams were successful in Hong Kong league and other competitions. The rugby 1st XV won the Pentangular Trophy and the basketball team remained one of the top teams in Hong Kong. The 1st soccer team found it difficult to compete against profes- sional opposition and was relegated to the second division. However, the police cadet team won the Hong Kong Soccer Youth League Trophy. The Table Tennis Club won the Ho Yiu Tai Cup for the third successive year, and the Lawn Bowls Club won promotion to the second division. Squash continued to flourish and six police representative teams participated in league competitions.
In June, a police rowing team toured the United King- dom, won three trophies and were well placed in all other events which they entered – including the Henley Regatta. In December, a combined table tennis, swimming and athletics team visited the Philippines and competed against their police counterparts in Manila, winning in swimming and table tennis and narrowly losing in athletics.
The Police Recreation Club, which provides a useful and pleasant social meeting place for members of the officer cadre, was forced to vacate premises at Happy Valley, which it had occupied since early in the century, because of road development. It is now housed temporarily at Wan Chai Gap.
Firm plans are being formulated for an amalgamation of the Police Recreation Club and the Hong Kong Police Sports Association into a Force sports and recreation club with premises on a site provided by the Government in Causeway Bay. The new combined club will provide an even wider range of sporting and recreational facilities at both locations. The long term aim is to provide similar facilities in the New Territories.
Civilian members of the Force run the Police Civilian Staff Club which continued to grow in membership. At the end of the year, membership stood at 1,200 active members, approximately one third of the civilian staff.
The Bauhinia Society, comprising wives of gazetted and inspectorate officers, expanded its membership to nearly 200 during 1976. The society, formed in 1974, organises many different functions, ranging from fashion parades, tea parties and family outings to "get-to-know-you" groups for wives of newly-recruited officers. Members also pro- vided valuable help to the Junior Police Call scheme. Force housing
As part of the career package, the aim of the Force is to house all its officers and members of the Rank and File and, to this end, implementation of planned housing programmes continued during the year. The number of Rank and File married quarters available was 5,330 which, apart from temporary vacancies, were fully occupied. A total of 1,259 families were on the waiting list, reflecting a deficiency in the overall target. However, there are 2,050 quarters in the Public Works Programme and construction of most of then had either commenced by the end of the year or was due to begin during 1977. The new quarters are to be situated at Kwai Chung and Sha Tin in the New Territories and at Ho Man Tin in Kowloon. Planning was also in hand for a complex of quarters on Hong Kong Island which, together with the other three projects, will meet current deficiencies. For the future, consideration is being given to accommoda- ting Rank and File in public housing to promote greater integration with the community and to ensure security of tenure on retirement. A $5-million project began during the
year to modernise three of the older quarters complexes to present-day standards.
Married inspectorate officers are housed mainly in de- partmental quarters either in complexes allocated wholly to the Force or in multi-departmental blocks. Again, the aim is to achieve further integration with other Government quarters. Single inspectorate officers are housed either in police stations, Government service flats or shared in- dividual units.
A survey of single and married inspectorate quarters was carried out during the year with a view to re-categorising, where necessary, and securing accommodation appropriate to various grades and comparable with quarters occupied by other Government servants.
Gazetted officers now occupy non-departmental quarters except for 27 departmental units held for certain posts. Consultative Councils
In ensuring effective communication between the Com- missioner and his staff and all members of the Force, the Senior and Junior Consultative Councils which were established in 1971 continued to play a valuable role.
The Senior Council comprises members of the three staff associations representing the inspectorate and the super- intendent grades, as well as the Commissioner's representa- tives. The council, under the chairmanship of the Director of Personnel and Support, held four regular meetings and also had the opportunity of discussing matters affecting conditions of service with the Overseas Police Adviser during his visit in November.
Similarly, members of the Rank and File are represented in Divisional Welfare Committees, each of which sends a representative to sit on the Junior Council under the chair- manship of the Commander Personnel. The council held four regular meetings and also met the Overseas Police Adviser.
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