A New Year's Honour

Submitted by David on Wed, 01/01/2025 - 21:00

Here's a lovely surprise to start my year - I've been awarded a British Empire Medal in the 2025 New Year's Honours List, 'For services to Heritage Preservation in Hong Kong':

2025 New Year's Honour list

 

I first heard about it in early December, when I received an email saying I'd receive good news if I called a certain Hong Kong mobile number. It looked to have come from the British Consulate in Hong Kong, but I just thought 'The spammers are getting really sophisticated these days', and deleted it! The next day I was contacted with similar messages via Facebook and Gwulo.com, and luckily I did call, and it was good news!

The UK Government website gives this explanation of the BEM:

British Empire Medal (BEM)
Achievement or contribution of a very “hands-on” service to the community in a local geographical area.

This might take the form of sustained commitment in support of very local charitable and/or voluntary activity; or innovative work that has delivered real impact but that is relatively short (three to four years) in duration. 

Presentations of BEMs are made locally.

Thank you to all the contributors who have given their time and research to Gwulo. This award recognises all our work that has gone into building Gwulo into the resource that it has become.

Wishing you all the best for the new year ahead,

David

P.S. I was asked who nominated me for this. I don't know, but a very big thank you to them. (I like to think the nomination happened after King Charles was reminiscing about visiting Hong Kong, and found us after googling for family photos ...)

Excelsior Hotel Prince Charles.jpg
Excelsior Hotel Prince Charles.jpg, by Paulo

 

1986 - Queen's visit to Hong Kong
1986 - Queen's visit to Hong Kong, by Cliff Atkins

 

HRH Duke of Edinburgh arriving at Kai Tak 7th March 1959
HRH Duke of Edinburgh arriving at Kai Tak 7th March 1959, by emride

 

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Comments

Brilliant news David and many congrats. Please post a photo when you have the physical medal.

David Bellis BEM!

Congratulations David, well deserved, celebrating with you!

Many congratulations. Your work here is absolutely first rate and to receive official recognition is wonderful news.

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Submitted by
C
on
Wed, 01/01/2025 - 22:52

Congratulations on the well-deserved award. It is wonderful to get official recognition for the great effort you put in for Gwulo.

Congratulations also from my side. Love to hear that all your efforts were officially recognised.

Congratulations and thanks for your dedication and efforts preserving some history and memories that remain close to our hearts. 

Congratulations, David.  In constructing and maintaining Gwulo to such a high standard, you have provided a great  opportunity for us all to learn more about Hong Kong and to share our own memories and images with such a wide and enthusiastic following.  Well done!

David well done...just the recognition you deserve for all the amazing work you've done on HK history.

Best Wishes for 2025

Very well deserved David! You have created an amazing resource that have helped and will help countless people (some not even born yet!). What a great start to 2025! May you have more success and recognition for your hard work, dedication and passion. 

Very well deserved David - I have been repeatedly amazed to learn new things about HK when I thought I already knew it all ! Thanks for creating Gwulo. Regards - Geoff Wellstead

Congratulations, and having just come across this site, what a nice place you have created to curate memories.

Well done David B.E.M.; and thanks in memoriam Two Gun Cohen for such a truly informative and thoroughly engaging, not so little, corner of the Internet.

Congratulations David. Very pleasing to know that your hard work and dedication have been officially recognized.

A very well deserved recognition for your dedication,  interest and achievements in preserving the history of Hong Kong for all of us to enjoy and appreciate. 

Thank you also for giving so many of us the opportunity to find and be in touch with family and friends through this website.

Continued success in 2025 and beyond!

Happy New Year!

 

Thank you for all your kind words, I appreciate them.

I'll be sure to post a photo of the medal once I receive it - as far as I can tell the presentation of the BEM's happens at the county level, some time in the summer. 

When I first embarked on family history research, there was no information available about my great-grandfather's business that he founded in Kowloon in 1902.  The business is now run by another Hong Kong family but the history page on their website omits the years from 1902.  I wrote to the business to ask if they have information about the early years but I never received a reply.  Cousins of mine have written to the business, as did a faculty member at one of the universities in Hong Kong.  The business never replied to any of our emails.
 
 ***  BUT GWULO CAME TO THE RESCUE ***
 
David asked one of the regular contributors to do a write-up about the old family business.  The contributor also went to the Public Records Office to look at historical records from the early 1900s.  The Gwulo Shop was helpful too, having a photo of the business. 
 
As eurasian_david has stated, Gwulo will also help people not even born yet.  This website is a permanent fixture and our descendants will have a resource about Hong Kong's rich history.
 
David being awarded a British Empire Medal is most deserving.  We, and future contributors not yet born, are all grateful to David Bellis for having founded Gwulo.
 

Congratulations, well deserved and thanks for archiving the modern history of HK.