ENG-1956 — Page 210

SOCIAL WELFARE

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Association, and include the 21 clubs sponsored by the Social Welfare Office. The clubs are centres where the children meet together under supervision, and by engaging in a variety of activities (such as games, inter-club competi- tions, visits to places of interest, physical training, simple reading and writing exercises, and handicrafts) they are helped to grow up into healthy and alert men and women, and reliable and thoughtful citizens.

During the first four months of the year a series of inter- club competitions in story-telling, singing, dancing and drama were held, in which 50 clubs participated. Plans are in hand to hold a 'Prizewinners' Concert' early next year. Scouting and guiding as club activities continued to expand and there are now five Scout Troops, two Cub Packs, three Guide Companies and two Brownie Packs attached to clubs. During the year an additional eight organizations have established roof-top clubs in Tai Hang Tung, Li Cheng Uk, and Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estates.

The Mobile Library, a gift from the Hong Kong Junior Chamber of Commerce to the Social Welfare Office, con- tinued to serve non-school children in the New Territories. Towards the end of the year the Library also visited regularly the Tai Hang Tung, Li Cheng Uk and Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estates to serve the large number of children who neither attend school nor belong to a roof-top club.

Particular progress was also made in scouting and guiding amongst handicapped children in blind homes, the Lepro- sarium at Hei Ling Chau and the Hong Kong School for the Deaf at Diamond Hill. A noteworthy development of the Girl Guides Association was the extension of its activities into the New Territories where as many as 22 new Companies were established.

Great efforts have been made in recent years to increase the recreational facilities for children and young persons. The Children's Playground Association strives to equip and

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