Other than Ho Sir (Group Scout Master) who gave me the nod in Form-1 for joining the scouts, Andrew So (So-Har) was my very first contact in WYK scouting. He left (graduated from) WYK as I was entering P-6 in 1959; a "green broom" (SM) on his scout beret at the time.
I was a member of probably 10 or 12 new tenderfoot recruits who got sworn in by him in Junior B*: A few I can remember: FB, Goo-Wark, Ah Chai, Thomas Li, Koo Wai-Ying.... (BB went into Junior A). Tsung Kwong-Hung ("貓仔") was my first PL, John Fung Hong-Tai was my PS, in Antelope Patrol, before Henry Lam the "Iron Cow" took over after Tsung left.
*We got chided by a Yaumati District Scouter for calling our troops "Junior A and Junior B". That is incorrect he said, you left out the word "Troop".... What BS, that was our WYK tradition..... Don't teach us Wah Yan boys how to speak English!
I was too young in those years to pay much attention to what the scouters did outside of our Saturday afternoon meetings and other scouting (like camping, hiking....) activities. In scouting, So-Har was a dedicated and caring member of the Junior B leadership: with other members like Ko Chi-Chung ("Go-Pen"), Low Bin-Wah ("Low-Pen").... I have no brothers in my own family, not even male cousins; these were my brothers. They taught me self-reliance, self-discipline, self-confidence, survival, and leadership skills....., which benefited me life-long after I left WYK.
I, together with a medical doctor, ran a scout troop when Sigmund was in Grade 4 (started with Cubs) through his Grade 12. Made a major mistake with his Venturer scouts in Grade12 on a 3-night hiking-camping (trek-camping) trip in deep forest at Jasper National Park (no such thing as cell phone at the time, had to register our IDs with the Park Rangers before going in, and report our safety out -- they sent two Rangers on horseback to visit us mid-way. Saw lots of wild animals including black bears eating berries in a deep valley). The mistake: Bought and put on a pair of brand-new hiking boots......; got heavy duty large and painful blisters! No idea such boots had to be "broken-in" before taking long hiking trips. I still have those boots.
The parents of these kids thought their kids would be "safe" with a doctor and a dentist running the troop -- without realizing that my co-leader is a pathologist who does not treat live patients......! Learned a lot from this guy, who is a pulmonary specialist in pathology.
Going back to So-Har: In our very first Sat. meeting, right after our investiture, he conducted a game with us kids doing a verbal "relay" on tricky words......, to test our memory ability. I still remember what he told us to pass on from scout to scout:
"嶺頂鷹鳴 酩酊兵丁停亭聽; 山間雁返 懶散番蠻挽彈彈". Funny how I manage to remember these words throughout the six decades! 讀書冇 gum lack!
And, he taught us how to sing "I am sad 'neath the moon. Sitting lonely beside the silent silvery lake......." 調寄昭君怨.
By the way, following link is a YouTube video of the real 昭君怨, done by one of my favourite performers (who normally sings the 平喉 (male voice); here I she does 子喉 (female voice) as 王昭君 herself). Our 華仁 英語粵劇 version does not have the fast ending as in the video. Have a look/listen: https://youtu.be/7qjoNVlu01Q
I am so thankful to Ho Sir and to these scout leaders, and to my other scouting brothers and friends, many of whom I still keep contact to this day, well into our 70's.
Remember this song: "...March, march, march on the road with me, to the boy scouts Jamboree, ........." "Years from now down the memory lane, we shall walk and live again, those great days with you and me, at the Jamboree. Jamboree, Jamboree, we'll give three hearty cheers, and we'll march along together, another fifty years!"
Indeed, another fifty (60+) years have passed, our scouting friendship remains!
In scouting, I was given this nick name "牛大" for almost blindly following the leadership of Henry Lam. I didn't mind the nick name at all, just a bit of good "clean" fun.
By the way, does anybody know where "Fair-Fair" (Sum Chi-Hung) and/or "Doctor" (Ng Yee-Sung) are? I still remember Fair-Fair (who was doing electrical engineering at HKU at the time) gave us private tutoring (for free of course) in math. after our Saturday meetings - helped me get a bald-headed pass in a subject I was never good at. Good thing I needed only one single math course (minimal requirement) to get my undergrad degree in microbiology -- and I got help from a good-looking engineering student from Beijing in tutorial sessions. You don't need math in virology or dentistry! Well, may be a little bit of 3-D geometry.
Last time I saw So-Har was 10 to 15 years ago on a visit back to HK, I think at a WY dinner gathering (both WYs); had a nice chat. Good memories!
~ Vincent P. Lee (WYK '65)