Whitfield junior school, Kowloon [????-????]

I attended the school at Whitfield barracks from January 1955, when we arrived in HK. We lived initially in the Shamrock Hotel but soon moved to the Ritz in Austin Road, then to a flat at 28 Austin Avenue. I soon moved on to the school at Gun Club Barracks as the Whitfield school was for infants and at seven I was old enough for junior school. However my brother, who was four years younger, continued at the Whitfield school for some time. I think he may be the boy in the front row of the photo, second from the right with a hat and his hand to his mouth.

Yes the school was in the barracks, which were situated on the corner of Austin Road West and Nathan Road. I cannot remember a great deal about it as I was only there for a short time before transferring to Gun Club, where I remained for the rest of our posting. My father worked at HMS Tamar as a dockyard employee until April 1958. I revisited the area in 1982 en route to New Zealand and was pleasantly surprised to see that our old flat was still standing, though now demolished.

I was at Gun Club school from 1953 to 1954, we were bussed there every day in RASC three-tonners and the route included Whitfield Barracks and the infant school. Later I went to Minden Row school for one term before going to KG5 in Sept. 54 for two years. My father was in the RAOC at the time. Happy memories! His book Fragrant Springs gives a quaint picture of the colony as it was then.

Hello there. This is my first posting on this site. I attended Whitfield Infants for a couple of years in the early 1950s before going on to Gun Club Hill school. I have many memories of my time there. It was exactly where indicated in the Whitfield Barracks where the Kowloon Park off Nathan Rd is now situated. My father was in the RAOC and we lived in Sau Chuk Yuen road. In the morning I'd walk up to College Rd and down to Boundary St and catch an army truck into school. I still remember it very clearly.

Hello there Jonathan. I think I remember you. We lived for the first month of our posting at the Belvedere Hotel, Sau Chuk Yuen Road. I have a memory of your nickname, 'Flanny', though no idea where it came from. I also remember a couple of other children you may remember, Richard Kendall and Jeremy Gathercole. I might even have a phot of these two somewhere. I also remember the three-tonners we used to go to school in. I remember getting on board one morning to learn from someone that the Empire Windrush had gone down in the Mediterranean. Long time ago! 

Hello Eric. Yes that's me. They used to call me Flanny then. You have a fantastic memory. You may also remember my younger brother Richard. I do remember the other children but no longer remember their names. How is it you can remember them? I remember hearing about the ship sinking, one of the Whitfield Infants teachers returning home to the UK was on it and lost all her possesions. You wouldn't by any chance be the other boy involved in the incident with the elderly Chinese man carrying the bamboo poles on his back. It was around the junction of College Rd and Boundary St. and I jumped up and pulled down the back of the poles making the old man stagger. Then my friend did the same. It was on the way home from School and was witnessed by a teacher from another School who reported it to Whitfield Infants. The following morning we had to stand up in front of the whole school at assembly and be admonished by the Headmistress. I remember it cleary and the other boy would presumably be you or one of the other two you mention. Where did you go after the Belvedere Hotel?

Hi Jonathan, That sounded a most amusing episode, but probably not for the poor guy with the poles! It wasn't me, though I must have been around at the time. I can't say I remember Richard though this is probably memory lapse.

After about a month at the Belvedere, we moved to a ground floor flat at 155 Argyle street, opposite what had been the Argyle Street POW camp during the Japanese occupation. It was then I believe some sort of refugee camp. We used to watch aircraft landing at Kai Tak either from the front gate or the flat roof; there were Spitfires of 80 squadron and De Havilland Hornets (which I thought were Mosquitos). We were there when just before Christmas a US Navy Neptune crashed on the far runway and caught fire; I had just seen it go over the house before turning on finals. Then a few months later there was a huge fire at the Chung Nam Weaving Factory over the road, past the camp; the flames lit up the area. Quite exciting for a small boy. 

We then moved to an awful little flat at 25 Hart Avenue, where we spent Christmas 1954, at the time of the great fire at Shek Kip Mei.  Then in 1955 we rented a house with a garden at 4 Kent Road, Kowloon Tong, which was a few months of paradise for a small boy obsessed with butterflies and moths. Then some six months before coming home we were allocated a quarter in Perth Street, off Argyle Street, within walking distance of KG5. Then our last week or so was spent in the old Belvedere before embarking on HMT Cheshire for the six-week voyage home.

To my great regret I have never been back to Hong Kong, and probably never will. It was a short interlude in one's life, but the memories never fade. I hope to see some of yours here in due course!

Hi Eric. How is it you were able to remember my name and the names of the other two boys after all this time? Can you remember if you where in the same class as me at Whitfield Infants? What were the dates of your stay at the Belvedere? I'm looking at some photos here taken at the front of the Belverdere on Feb 27th 1954 of me and three other boys. Would one of them be you? We never left the Belvedere during our three years in HK. We used to live in a flat in a seperate building in the Belverder hotel grounds. I remember the Shep Kip Mei fire very well. If you remember turning right at the top of Sau Chuk Yuen road would eventually take you up to the top of a small hill, now converted into the Kowloon Tsai Park. I went up there to watch and can remember the flames filling the horizon from end to end. It's an image still indelibly printed on my mind. I've been back to Hong Kong many times with my last visit in September 2017. Always staying in the Kowloon, Mongkok, Yaumatei area. I still always feel at home there. There's no trace of the Belvedere any more, just new apartment buildings now. You should try and go again, buy an Oyster card on arrival at the Airport and travel around easily all over HK on the buses, trains and ferries. I have also been lucky enough to travel over a lot of mainland China. My dad bought a car early in our stay at Belvedere and we used to travel all over the New Territories in it. I also remember our visits to Repulse Bay and Big Wave Bay on the island. I also remember a school trip to Silvermine Bay, Mui Wo on Lantau island. My dad was A platoon 6 C. O. D. I've just found a photo showing Jeremy, with his mother Thelma, taken at Repulse Bay. Must be the Jeremy you mentioned but I don't remember him. I like Butterflies and Moths too. Best wishes.

I was at the school between 1967-1969. I remember it quite well, the uniform (white shirt, shorts, red cap) was very smart! We used to go by bus to the USRC to meet my mother and have a swim after school. Sometimes we had birthday parties there. I lived in Perth Street. Guy

Eric - you may be interested in the fact that we have a place on this site for 4 Kent Road. Sadly it was one of the few remaining original houses (built in the 1930s) that was demolished just a couple of years ago. Link : https://gwulo.com/node/32909

Regards

Phil