The Correspondent, March 1986

@llt @srrtßponùwt March 1986

A Disappointing Survey Despite the disappointing response to

the questionaire a number of interest-

ing

suggestions and comments were

made.

Only

10

per cent of the active club

members responded and confirmed that the main restaurant and main bar were the two most important facilities in the club. At the bottom of the list was the health club (see back page).

Other facilities which are under-utilised include the work room and the library. But given the nature of the club, it is felt that we should devote more resources to improving these areas.

Disregarding the more frivilous responses, the survey showed thatinterested members would like to see more in the way of sporting events and contacts at the top of the list were squash, golf

-

and tennis. We have no facilities forthese except on an occassional basis through members who belong to sporting clubs.

Film shows, luncheon speakers, dinner

theatre and seminars were among the most requested activities. These are always priorities of the board and while every effort is made to attract quality speakers, for example, any suggestions from the membership are always welcome. Don't forget the suggestion box!

In the past year the board has organised a number of forums and discussions but the survey showed that there is still room for expansion, particularly into seminars and discussion groups. One prominent suggestion was for more broadcasts of US and UK news and current affairs videos. This suggestion has been taken care of to some ex-

tent by the installation of the video equipment in the main bar. We are, however, dependent on the goodwill of the industry and hemmed in by copyright problems.

The food and beverage section ofthe questionaire drew a very disappointing response, with many members declinning to respond at all. All analysis of the questionaire showed:

FOOD AND BEVERAGE Response

t44 a) Restaurant

Board of Governors Nominations Nominations for the 1986-1987 Board

of Governors will be held Wednesday April 2, 1986, Those who wish to make written nominations should deliver them to the club in person or by registered letter not later than 6 P.m. on that day.

o

A

president who shall be a correspondent member. This nomination must be made and seconded bY correspondent members.

A fìrst vice president who shall be a correspondent member. This nomination must be made and seconded by correspondent members.

A second vice president who may be a journalist or an associate member. These nominations may be made and seconded by correspondent, journalist or associate members.

Eight correspondent mem-

b) Verandah BreaKast Menu:

members.

¡

Two journalist members-

governors who shall be journalist members. These nominations may be made and seconded by correspondent orjournalist members.

o

o ¡

not mean that he or she is elected

A

member's being nominated does a

club officer. Candidates can accept nomination to only one position on the board.

Members will be furnished with mail ballots and a full list of c¿ndidates one week after the nomination meeting.

Satisfied

32

No Response

48 64

Satisfied

24

Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

d)Restaurant

Service:

27

Dissatisfied

42

No Response

75

Satisfied

48

Dissatisfied

13

No Response

83

e) Bar Service: Satisfied

(meals/ snacks/

14

No Response 106

c) Snack Menu: Satisfied

ber-governors whose nominations must be made and seconded by correspondent

Four associate membergovernors who shall be associate members. These nominations may be made and seconded by correspondent, journalist or associate members.

o

Menu:

Dissatisfied

No Response

38

34 72

drinks)

Comments relating to speciltc requests have been drawn to the attention of the manager Heinz Grebner. He has already instituted a number of changes in both menus and.service.

Once again, if you still feel strongly about any single point or any single aspect of the club and its facilities then please do not hesitate to use the sugges-

tion box or contact the board.

Extraordinary General Meeting The 17 correspondent members who

voted at the March 13 Extraordinary General Meeting unanimously approved amendments to the Articles of Association that ensured correspondent members' ongoing control of the Club. Ail members now have a vote at general meetings but correspondent members have 25 votes each compared to one for non-correspondent members.

Richard Hughes Trophy John Lenaghan won the Richard Hughes Memorial TroPhY with an im-

This step was taken to clarify the status of non-correspondent members.

The club's auditor advised that the FCC remained vulnerable to taxation on income derived from non-correspondent members unless they had voting status.

The amendment means the club's power structure is unchanged as there is almost no conceivable circumstance in which correspondent members would not have

relax in the Japanese-developed club's king-size hot tub after the competition, before boarding a complimentary City Bus back to Hong Kong. The City Bus service cut border formalities to a minimum.

second golf foraY into

Lenaghan, playing off a six handicap, was a first-time winner in the competition, taking the trophy from Frank Miller who had held it two years in succession.

Miller took second place and Tim Street

The players took the opportunity to

Following the presentation of trophies

pressive 33 Stableford points in the FCC golf tournament held early in March.

Fifteen FCC golfers took part in the tournament at the Shenzhen Golf Club

- the Club's China.

third.

a 75 per cent majority.

Manila Reporters' Notebook

Other major amendments passed without discussion at the l0-minute meeting enlarged the Board by a correspondent, a journalist and an associate member to improve representation. An-

other amendment institutionalised the Professional Committee so it will not again lapse through inertia.

This remarkable show of unanimity left President Philip Bowring positively speechless

with surprise and delight.

-

By Danelle Morton

at the FCC there was a heated discussion concerning whether someone who won the competition three times should be able to keep the trophy.

When temperatures lowered,

it

was

agreed that the Richard Hughes trophy should be perpetual, inscribed with the

name of each year's winnor and allocated a permanent space adjacent to the Hughes bust in the main bar. The winner will'receive a miniature of the trophy as a victory memento.

-

By David

Crffield

FCC members who covered the over-

she said, noting that at that point she

throw of the Marcos government this month found it to be one of the most moving and professionally challenging stories of their careers. "Certainly the most dramatic, but not the most dan-

did not know if she was badly wounded.

gerous," said Newsweeks Melinda Liu, who was wounded outside the presidential palace Malacañang the morning the Marcos' fled. Most were impressed by the strength of the Filipino people. "To see a million people in the street without violence and to see them overthrow the government without anyone being killed obviously makes you respect the Filipino people," said Joseph Reaves, Chicago Tribune.

But even if it was a time of triumph, when correspondents' skills were taxed to the limit by simultaneous events and lack of sleep, it was also a time of frustration. Correspondents operating without a partner were continually tortured

by the notion that they were in the wrong place while a significant news event was happening, such as one correspondent who arrived 20 minutes after the storming of Malacañang.

The best example of this is the number ofjournalists who returned to Hong Kong after the Batasan Pambansa proclaimed Marcos the winner on February 16, only to be surprised -by the military revolt the following Saturday. "The Sunday morning Cathay flight to Manila had about 20 journalists on it," said Al Pessin, Voice of America, who was on

that plane.

*

Liu said many journalists have admired the flesh wound she received as the best kind of foreign correspondent

"But in that situation a minute seems a lot longer."

Once at the hospital the doctor removed most of the bullet fragments, including one perilously close to her

list of fast food restaurants that deliver

The Manila Hotel was the hub of journalislic activity for most of the

Presidential Suite. "The pool was just an oversized bathtub," said correspondent Larry Doyle. "And the butler came with the place."

+*+

month the world's attention focused on the Philippines. "The atmosphere was like a college dorm," said Pessin. "People would leave their room doors open while they were working and you could wander in." Batasan and cabinet members were in the hotel constantly holding scheduled and impromptu interviews in the lobby.

However much the hotel may have benefitted from 100 per cent occupancy, it also sustained damage. The basic desire of correspondents to live irÌ the ofhce manifested itself with maps taped to room walls and gaffer tape on hallway cårpet to secure wires.

*++

Journalists became the regular clientele at Manila's raunchy nightstrip Ermita. So much so that the bar girls' first question to customers was: "Journalist?" Reaves began calling the environs "heart of darkness." Darkness or no, Reaves and Pat Benic, Reuter's photographer, along with a few other

itinerant correspondents penned the following song to the tune of "Bye-bye Blackbird" on the night of March 3 at the Eagles Nest, when the situation finally offered room for levity.:

Bye-bye Mørcos Pøcked up øll my jewels ønd gold,

'@"ffi

Here we øre in the cold, Bye-bye Mørcos.

Fidel ønd Johnny left

the fold,

plece smr.

Bong-Bong høs the helicopter reødy,

made her way to the front of the barbed-

as if it had always been a newsroom. "They taped a

on one of the walls," said Marcus Brauchli, AP - Dow Jones, who visited the suite. "Within a few days the tape had begun to yellow."

The CBS crew is still defensive about a wire service story that mentioned their private swimming pool and butler in the

People power wøs too bold,

wire barricades, someone set off a string offirecrackers. The palace guards started firing, most into the air but some into the crowd. Liu was shot in the calf near the knee and fell to the ground. "The shooting seemed to go on a long time,"

out the rugs, dragged in desks and with-

in a few days had it looking

kneecap. Financial Times' Simon Winchester, who had been with Liu at Malacañang but did not khow ifshe had been hurt in the shooting, arrived at the hospital to check if she was there. "I was glad he did," said Liu. "I had to borrow money from him to pay the bill."

credential: receíved during an important event, not causing serious damage and most likely leaving a nice conversation

Around 1 a.m. on February 25, Liu swung by Malacañang after having received a tip that something might be happening. She found a crowd ofabout 1,000 people milling around. As she

The US networks spending habits in for the most comment. NBC took over the MacArthur suite, pulled oame

Bye-bye

Mørcol

,\

¿

Meldy's perfume is gettíngheødy.

Pøck the pesos, drop the

guns,

Time to søpe our little buns,

Mørcos

-¿t

ø/

bye-bye.

\rr,

New Members

i",'i"å',t"'ffiJi:f'å*riarm

wercome

For your diary Easter Sunday Buffet March 30 is the date to remember for a buffet lunch at the Club complete with chocolate bunnies and treats for the children. The time: 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm. The

price: Adults $80 Children $60.

Please note: the Club's popular Sunday Brunch will not be served in the main bar on Easter Sunday.

!tD--

Carpet Closure Correspondent

Brian G. Neil Computer Publications Ltd.

Correspondent Kenjiro Tsujita

Jiji Press

The main dining room will be closed on Saturda¿ April 12, for the installation of new carpet on

the stairs and in the function rooms and dining room. Both the snack menu and a la carte fare will be available that day in the

main bar.

Associate Percy Hamilton SKF Steel AM

Associate

Graham R. Crewley Reuters Ltd.

April 4 Club Luncheon, speaker, Mark Ella, one of Australia's most famous rugby internationals, will help prepare club members for the Rugby Sevens.

April 18 Greek Evening featuring an extensive buffet of Greek food, ouzo, and Greek wines. The Melody Quartette from the Hong Kong Philarmonic will entertain the revellers with favourite Greek tunes.

April 2l

-

26 the club will be

running a Lowenbrau Promotion to help celebrate World Cup '86.

Pints of Lowenbrau will be $5 and half pints $2.50. Entry forms

will also be

available

for

a

$200,000 lucky draw.

Putting it together Editor Associate

Associate

Kevin Burgess Reuters Ltd.

Simon P. Philips The Economist Newspaper Ltd.

Health Free For All

begin sometime next month to enable members of both sexes to use the facility

The $20 charge for use of the Health Corner has been dropped by act of the Board, although club guests will still have to pay the fee. Repairs to the jacuzzi will begin in April.

Alterations to the changing room will

simultaneously.

The board has also authorised the acquisition of a computel exercise bicycle. This is the model featured in health clubs that allows users to set a time limit and training difficulty level.

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Lesley Hargreaves Tel:5-236493 Danelle Morton

Tel:5-234438

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Newsletter Liaison Michael Malik (FEER)

Tel: 5-8936688

-

Printers Ad-Asia, Worldwide Commercial Bldg., 34 V&ndham Street, Central.

Tel:5-256067