Tucking In - Explored!
This image dates from October 1963. It shows a young lad named Patrick (no further details), possibly tucking into a Plumrose hot dog. Patrick seems to be looking rather quizzically at the camera. I'll let you guess whether that's because he's not enamoured of the hot dog or finds his picture being by taken by a stranger (my Dad) a bit upsetting.
The benevolent overseer manning the soft drinks and tombola stall and looking on, is my mother, Anna. The event was the annual British Army fete and was being held on the hockey pitch which doubled as the training ground for the Army's guard dogs.
The concrete structure filling most of the background is Jubilee Buildings, the married quarters in Sham Shui Po Barracks. Built in the 1920s, the barracks were used by the Japanese as a PoW camp for British, Indian and Canadian prisoners during their occupation of Hong Kong in WWII.
Immediately on the other side of the building from the above perspective was a small road that circled the building. On the other side of the road was Hong Kong harbour. I still remember standing on that road in the eye of a typhoon, watching an abandoned and drifting fishing boat bouncing along the sea wall before we retreated back into the building.
Today, the harbour is some 750m further away following various reclamation projects, and the entire barracks site has gone, some of it being turned into Sham Shui Po Park.
Tucking In - Explored!
This image dates from October 1963. It shows a young lad named Patrick (no further details), possibly tucking into a Plumrose hot dog. Patrick seems to be looking rather quizzically at the camera. I'll let you guess whether that's because he's not enamoured of the hot dog or finds his picture being by taken by a stranger (my Dad) a bit upsetting.
The benevolent overseer manning the soft drinks and tombola stall and looking on, is my mother, Anna. The event was the annual British Army fete and was being held on the hockey pitch which doubled as the training ground for the Army's guard dogs.
The concrete structure filling most of the background is Jubilee Buildings, the married quarters in Sham Shui Po Barracks. Built in the 1920s, the barracks were used by the Japanese as a PoW camp for British, Indian and Canadian prisoners during their occupation of Hong Kong in WWII.
Immediately on the other side of the building from the above perspective was a small road that circled the building. On the other side of the road was Hong Kong harbour. I still remember standing on that road in the eye of a typhoon, watching an abandoned and drifting fishing boat bouncing along the sea wall before we retreated back into the building.
Today, the harbour is some 750m further away following various reclamation projects, and the entire barracks site has gone, some of it being turned into Sham Shui Po Park.