anyone have pictures of st. christopher orphanage in tai po between 1958-1967?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified)
on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 03:06
hi,
would anyone have any old pictures of st. christopher's home in tai po between 1958- 1967 you like to share? I have gone through google search and other site. also skh home page. this is just to jot the wonderful memories i had at the home. thanks
All we have for the orphanage is this page. It shows a memorial for donation of land, dated 1969.
Please could you let us know where the home was located in 1958-67, and if the home moved to a new site around 1969? We're interested to know where that memorial stone from 1969 was located.
You might like to check out skhsch.org.hk itself as they have some photos of the old Tai Po site in their website. It's not much, though. I think the some local TV station archive might also have footages of past fund raising events somewhere. But I am uncertain if their PR would deal with the general public directly.
Hi dave, Thanks for your info, i also have email with sean, he did email me back with some info, but unfortunately, i am still searching for any photo of the home. if my memory serve me, the address of the the home was 13.5 miles tai po road, tai po. i do not know what happened after 1967 since i have left the country when i was still young. I have convey to sean that i have pass the photogragh of the memorial stone to my friend, and that he will attempt to find some info on it. my friend had not find any answer yet. thanks for your info. regards, ken
Hi Sean, thanks for your reply. yes please send any pictures you have. i believe you have my email. Sorry, my friend had not been able to i.d. the memorial stone. He did not recall the event or the stone, he did say he had lived only less than two miles away from the site on your photograph judging from the vantage point. he said he will contact some of his relatives to see if they have any info. good luck. ken
Hi Dave, Just want to update you. Sean had sent me some of his photo regards his family pass. I'm not sure if you have any contact with him, I had just replied to Sean the reasons my friend and i think the memorial stone did not locate on the original site of st. christopher's home, which is currently at around deerhill developments. We think the stones is located somewhere on high hills- south-east of "San Mun Tsai" facing tolo harbor, which is further north from the original St. Christopher home. Because I believe Sean's sincere wish to locate his family pass, I do not wish to speculate on his behalf. I base my answer only on my poor memories since it has been over 40 years ago. I am still hopeful some-one may have some old photo of the home i grew up at. thank you. ken
Hi Annelisec, thank you very much for the references with the public records. I am so tempted to get on the next plane to see if i could retrieve them, unfortunately, i know i will not be able to do so since i am not in hong kong, and not familiar with the inter-working of hong kong government. ALso, when i clicked on the link of the references, it shows i need approval from specific person or organization. so i probably have to do some home-work first. in the mean while can you direct me to the goverment agency of where i can write or call to get this started? thank you, ken
Hi Dave, over the weekend, i went to google earth and took a tour on tolo highway, to my surprise, i saw a scene that was very close match to the original pictures Sean had given me. So, I pretty sure I am wrong about the location of the site. Many of the viewers on this subject seem to be right. I have giving Sean what i think is the new location through trianglelation. here is the 1st coordinate of the scene ... 22°26'9.83"N 114°11'58.55"E. take it easy, ken
Sean - I think Ken is just trying to help with the possible location of the plaque. Of course we already know it was put somewhere in the vicinity of where Deerhill Bay now is, this we have already established. It is just the exact location that currently eludes us. We have the Home's declaration that it was plot T77 immediately adjacent to the current Tai Po Rd and then we have my opinion that it was somewhere else nearby - probably further towards the east.
Thanks Phil. Did not really think it could be the plaque but could not manipulate the picture much so thought I'd see what specialists like you thought.
I think you are right and that Ken is looking to match the old photo with today's landscape.
Hi all, thanks to photo and video sent by S.Olson, Sam from Samsay web, and other anonymous user, I was able to compile them into hopefully the first of many youtube video. Please keep those pictures and video coming... thanks.
Hi Jabberjabber, thanks for letting us know the correct location of the picture. Actually, the first five pictures of Bishop Hall are not at St. Christopher, I have yet to find any picture of him within St. Christopher. I just want to pay tribute to his dedications and his visions. Without him, I know me and others will not be here today. One of my greatest pleasure would be; if I could find a picture of him with me in the picture. regards, ken
I was adopted in 1964 and for some reason I never actually asked my British parents for the name of the orphanage they adopted me from. It was always regarded as just 'the orphanage'. Luckily though I do have some photos of the orphanage and they would have been taken around 1964 -1965. My father loved taking photos of his cars and it just so happened that he took some photos whilst he was at the orphanage. My father was in the British army and I think they often helped out.
Can someone please confirm that this is in fact St Christopher's Orphanage?
Sorry Lynn. The addres I gave you is not working at the moment. Did not realise myself. Have beem om touch through owner's private mail and he says it will be up and running soon.
I suspect after Easter holidays as he is in Taiwan at moment on holiday with his family. Leave it a week or so and get back to me if it is not working and I will see what i can do.
I think Sean has supplied you with a duff email address (it should've been oriental_sweetlips 'at' hotmail.com) but, no problem.
If you view the video that has been added to this thread by Ken, you can see quite a few pictures of the buildings at the home which have the same columns and railing patterns seen on your pictures. So, I think your pictures show the home on Tai Po Road.
Thank you for your replies and confirming my suspicions. I had viewed Ken's video and noted the architecture too and was hoping that it was unique to the orphanage, which it seems to be.
Thank you so much. I am visiting Hong Kong in a couple of weeks and am going to take a trip to Tai Po while I am there. Your other link provides a very useful guide on where the old home was situated.
I'm glad it was helpful. Of course, since it was demolished we can only guess but I am 99.99% confident that it is the same place.
If you are heading up to Tai Po, then it is very quick to get to Deerhill Bay on the bus (catch the 28k green minibus from the minibus/maxicab terminus at the station) or you can also catch the #72 double decker which goes from Tai Po to Cheung Sha Wan. There are also lots of taxis going up and down the road to and from Tai Po or Shatin, so it is very easy to get to and from.
I can confirm the pictures are of the home and this is where I was from 1965 -1966. Before I was adopted to the UK. I went to the home in 1979 around Christmas time and took similar pictures but without the car. I was shown the baby and toddler section and the primary section. We were not allowed to the other sections but were treated to a nativity show in the hall where they ate and had events,
The Person in Charge at the time my dad went was a Mrs Lam but he couldn't take me back due to political unrest late 60's so my mum took us.
I went back in 1994 and my friend couldn't find the home, but I later learnt the land had been sold. I went back 2015 with a group of adoptees and visited the grounds where a posh estate is and a collage and elementary school has been built. We were allowed to go onto the grounds of the collage and school.
St Christopher's
All we have for the orphanage is this page. It shows a memorial for donation of land, dated 1969.
Please could you let us know where the home was located in 1958-67, and if the home moved to a new site around 1969? We're interested to know where that memorial stone from 1969 was located.
Regards, David
Pictures of St Christophers
I have some pictures - not very good - of the land presentation made by my Uncle and Aunt.
If interestested I can dig some out and scan them in and send.
Sean
Re: Pictures of St. Christophers
Hi there,
You might like to check out skhsch.org.hk itself as they have some photos of the old Tai Po site in their website. It's not much, though. I think the some local TV station archive might also have footages of past fund raising events somewhere. But I am uncertain if their PR would deal with the general public directly.
Best Regards,
T
location of st. christopher
Hi dave, Thanks for your info, i also have email with sean, he did email me back with some info, but unfortunately, i am still searching for any photo of the home. if my memory serve me, the address of the the home was 13.5 miles tai po road, tai po. i do not know what happened after 1967 since i have left the country when i was still young. I have convey to sean that i have pass the photogragh of the memorial stone to my friend, and that he will attempt to find some info on it. my friend had not find any answer yet. thanks for your info. regards, ken
re : pictures of st. christophers
Hi Sean, thanks for your reply. yes please send any pictures you have. i believe you have my email. Sorry, my friend had not been able to i.d. the memorial stone. He did not recall the event or the stone, he did say he had lived only less than two miles away from the site on your photograph judging from the vantage point. he said he will contact some of his relatives to see if they have any info. good luck. ken
Pictures emailed
Hi Ken,
Have sent you a few pics by email and hope they will help. Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Sean
re: pictures and location of Olson's memorial stone
Hi Dave, Just want to update you. Sean had sent me some of his photo regards his family pass. I'm not sure if you have any contact with him, I had just replied to Sean the reasons my friend and i think the memorial stone did not locate on the original site of st. christopher's home, which is currently at around deerhill developments. We think the stones is located somewhere on high hills- south-east of "San Mun Tsai" facing tolo harbor, which is further north from the original St. Christopher home. Because I believe Sean's sincere wish to locate his family pass, I do not wish to speculate on his behalf. I base my answer only on my poor memories since it has been over 40 years ago. I am still hopeful some-one may have some old photo of the home i grew up at. thank you. ken
Public Records
Google Books:
1. "Bishop Hall at "St. Christopher's Home" 1948 click here
2. 聖基道兒童院創院四十周年紀念: 1935-1975 (St. Christopher's Home (Hong Kong) (I can't find a copy)
Public Records Office:
Carl Smith Collection
thank you Annelisec - with a question
Hi Annelisec, thank you very much for the references with the public records. I am so tempted to get on the next plane to see if i could retrieve them, unfortunately, i know i will not be able to do so since i am not in hong kong, and not familiar with the inter-working of hong kong government. ALso, when i clicked on the link of the references, it shows i need approval from specific person or organization. so i probably have to do some home-work first. in the mean while can you direct me to the goverment agency of where i can write or call to get this started? thank you, ken
proinfo@grs.gov.hk
First I suggest you look through the newspapers around the date of the silver jubilee:
http://hkclweb.hkpl.gov.hk/hkclr2/internet/eng/html/welcome.html
For the Public Records Office:
proinfo@grs.gov.hk
They are really nice there.
correction to location to the pictures
Hi Dave, over the weekend, i went to google earth and took a tour on tolo highway, to my surprise, i saw a scene that was very close match to the original pictures Sean had given me. So, I pretty sure I am wrong about the location of the site. Many of the viewers on this subject seem to be right. I have giving Sean what i think is the new location through trianglelation. here is the 1st coordinate of the scene ... 22°26'9.83"N 114°11'58.55"E. take it easy, ken
re- upload of update photo of Sean's stone's picture
just a re upload of the pictures for Sean's memorial stone location. sorry about that.
Grandma's palque
Am I to assume that the stone in the middle of the picture is the plaque I have been looking for? Can't agnifiy the picture enough.
Anybody got any ideas?
Sean
no it's not the plaque
Sean - I think Ken is just trying to help with the possible location of the plaque. Of course we already know it was put somewhere in the vicinity of where Deerhill Bay now is, this we have already established. It is just the exact location that currently eludes us. We have the Home's declaration that it was plot T77 immediately adjacent to the current Tai Po Rd and then we have my opinion that it was somewhere else nearby - probably further towards the east.
Cheers
Phil
Not the plaque
Thanks Phil. Did not really think it could be the plaque but could not manipulate the picture much so thought I'd see what specialists like you thought.
I think you are right and that Ken is looking to match the old photo with today's landscape.
Thanks again,
Sean
vintage photo and video of st. christopher home
Hi all, thanks to photo and video sent by S.Olson, Sam from Samsay web, and other anonymous user, I was able to compile them into hopefully the first of many youtube video. Please keep those pictures and video coming... thanks.
Baptism and Confirmation
The third picture is of a Baptism and Confirmation class, taken outside the main entrance to the Diocesan Boys' School.
correction on photo- re: baptism and confirmation
Hi Jabberjabber, thanks for letting us know the correct location of the picture. Actually, the first five pictures of Bishop Hall are not at St. Christopher, I have yet to find any picture of him within St. Christopher. I just want to pay tribute to his dedications and his visions. Without him, I know me and others will not be here today. One of my greatest pleasure would be; if I could find a picture of him with me in the picture. regards, ken
New Girls Home - Taipo Rural Home and Orphange
China Mail 1st and 8th March 1940
A new Girls Home at the Taipo Rural Home and Orphanage was opened on 2 March 1940.
I think this may be St Christopher's Orphanage
Hi,
I was adopted in 1964 and for some reason I never actually asked my British parents for the name of the orphanage they adopted me from. It was always regarded as just 'the orphanage'. Luckily though I do have some photos of the orphanage and they would have been taken around 1964 -1965. My father loved taking photos of his cars and it just so happened that he took some photos whilst he was at the orphanage. My father was in the British army and I think they often helped out.
Can someone please confirm that this is in fact St Christopher's Orphanage?
Thanks, Lynn
Here are the photos:
Sr Christopher's Home
Try and orientalsweetlips@hotmail.com You may find that though Phik whose address this is can help you. He did some great work about the home for me.
Good luck,
Sean
St Christopher's Home
Thanks Sean. I have just tried to email but my email was unfortunately 'undelivered'. Maybe he has a new email address now(?)
Lynn
St Christopher's Home
Sorry Lynn. The addres I gave you is not working at the moment. Did not realise myself. Have beem om touch through owner's private mail and he says it will be up and running soon.
I suspect after Easter holidays as he is in Taiwan at moment on holiday with his family. Leave it a week or so and get back to me if it is not working and I will see what i can do.
Sean
St Christopher's Home
Thank you Sean. I will wait a week or so before I try to send the message again.
Lynn
St Christopher's Home
Hi Lynn
I think Sean has supplied you with a duff email address (it should've been oriental_sweetlips 'at' hotmail.com) but, no problem.
If you view the video that has been added to this thread by Ken, you can see quite a few pictures of the buildings at the home which have the same columns and railing patterns seen on your pictures. So, I think your pictures show the home on Tai Po Road.
Hope this helps
Phil
St Christopher's Home
Hi Lynn,
Appologies to you for my mistake.
Hi Phil,
Sorry about that.
Sean
St Christopher's Home
Edit: dead link removed
St Christopher's Home...thank you
Hi Phil (and Sean),
Thank you for your replies and confirming my suspicions. I had viewed Ken's video and noted the architecture too and was hoping that it was unique to the orphanage, which it seems to be.
Thank you so much. I am visiting Hong Kong in a couple of weeks and am going to take a trip to Tai Po while I am there. Your other link provides a very useful guide on where the old home was situated.
Lynn
Deerhill Bay
Hi Lynn
I'm glad it was helpful. Of course, since it was demolished we can only guess but I am 99.99% confident that it is the same place.
If you are heading up to Tai Po, then it is very quick to get to Deerhill Bay on the bus (catch the 28k green minibus from the minibus/maxicab terminus at the station) or you can also catch the #72 double decker which goes from Tai Po to Cheung Sha Wan. There are also lots of taxis going up and down the road to and from Tai Po or Shatin, so it is very easy to get to and from.
Best of luck
Phil
Perhaps the actual lease at
Perhaps the actual lease at the Lands Department (available for a small fee and in person only) could help.
St Christophers home
Hiya Lyn,
I can confirm the pictures are of the home and this is where I was from 1965 -1966. Before I was adopted to the UK. I went to the home in 1979 around Christmas time and took similar pictures but without the car. I was shown the baby and toddler section and the primary section. We were not allowed to the other sections but were treated to a nativity show in the hall where they ate and had events,
The Person in Charge at the time my dad went was a Mrs Lam but he couldn't take me back due to political unrest late 60's so my mum took us.
I went back in 1994 and my friend couldn't find the home, but I later learnt the land had been sold. I went back 2015 with a group of adoptees and visited the grounds where a posh estate is and a collage and elementary school has been built. We were allowed to go onto the grounds of the collage and school.
Rachel