group of old villages and is now a township of some 75,000 inhabitants with a labour force of 25,000 employed in several major textile and other factories. The integration of old farming and fishing communities with an industrial population of young workers, many from Shanghai and North China, with a variety of dialects and traditions, presents no mean problem; the District Commissioner, New Territories was keen that a Community Centre should be built in Tsuen Wan as a contribution towards its future as an important new industrial town. Four voluntary organizations have accommodation in the Centre: Lutheran World Service provides 120 young people of 16 years and over with elementary training in such work as carpentry, the repair and maintenance of air- conditioners and the use of lathes, shapers and electric arc-welding equipment, supplemented by hand-tool operations, for boys and in tailoring for girls; the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society ministers at present to the needs of some 160 families which have encountered difficulties due to illness, unemployment etc.; the Y.M.C.A. organizes groups in which some 80 young people attend regularly to exercise their skill in sport and arts and crafts in various forms; and the Y.W.C.A. operates a day nursery for about 200 children who need care while their parents are at work. Three local associations, the Tsuen Wan Chiu Chow Welfare Association, the Tsuen Wan Northern Chinese Welfare Association and the Tsuen Wan Sports Association are also provided with office accommodation there. The Department is responsible for managing the Centre; it also seeks to encourage those who use the Centre, especially young factory workers, to develop their interest in folk dancing, music, basket ball, football, Chinese boxing etc. and over 300 take part regularly. Film shows and concerts attract some 500 to 800 at a time and the Centre's free public library of some 14,000 volumes has 800 readers a day, about two thirds of them children. A 'Safety First' campaign and exhibition was being planned for May 1962, in conjunction with a number of voluntary agencies and govern- ment departments. The initial experience gained from the first Com- munity Centre in the Wong Tai Sin resettlement estate in Kowloon was a useful preparation for the quite different conditions of Tsuen Wan, where the rapid change from farming and fishing to industry and the great influx of people had naturally created stresses and strains.
93. It was particularly gratifying that during her very busy ten-day stay in Hong Kong, Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra found time to include this Tsuen Wan Centre in her programme; before her
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