66 – Opening of New Command Headquarters
One big important file marked “New Command Headquarters’ Building” was handed to me when I took office in January 1983. The old Headquarters along Nathan Road was quite inadequate to cater for the needs of the growing work of The Salvation Army. Our predecessors had secured from the Hong Kong Government an arrangement to erect the present 14- storey building in exchange for the return of the Nathan Road land.
Of course, the Property Department under the leadership of Major Joseph Wilcox an Australian officer handled the details. They received very good support from the Property Committee of the Advisory Board a group of businessmen well versed in property and legal matters.
It was a busy time for those involved – the calling of tenders, the choice of contractors and the negotiations took up a lot of our time. When work was about to begin, the contractor wanted to bring in Toaist priests to conduct rituals and cast out evil spirits a custom prevalent in Hong Kong. Captain James Lau the Field Secretary strongly opposed the contractors and insisted that he would perform the ceremony. So the Captain went with a group of Salvationists and prayed loudly in Cantonese over the land! He then turned to the contactors and said, “Now the land is cleansed, no evil spirits will trouble your workers.” We took our stand as a church and Christian organisation.
On 26th November 1984 we began our move to the new building. Of course, we had to deal with many teething problems initially. However, we had a good team of officers and staff who worked extremely hard to get the place ready for the official opening.
The official opening of the new Command Headquarters building on 20th April 1985 was a thrilling and exhilarating experience for us and the members of The Salvation Army. It was one of the highlights of our time in Hong Kong. The Chicago Staff Band (Bandmaster William Himes) from America came and participated on this historic event. It added colour to the occasion.
Busy Nathan Road was closed to traffic for The Salvation Army band and representative Salvationists to march from the old to the new Headquarters. I was informed that the only other time that had happened was when Queen Elizabeth II visited the colony. The Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Edward Youde was the guest of honour who officiated. The International Secretary of South Pacific and East Asia Commissioner William Cairns was there to dedicate the building and to lead the weekend’s meetings.
The new building provided facilities for the Central Corps (church); one floor was reserved for services to the elderly and two floors for a Day Care and Kindergarten. We kept two floors, the fourth and fifth for Headquarters administration. My wife and I had offices on the fourth floor. The sixth and seventh floors were reserved for the Training College. Officers’ quarters occupied the top floors.
We knew it would be costly to maintain such a big building, so we set aside the rest of the building to provide accommodation for international visitors. Profits from the centre named Booth Lodge went towards the running expenses of this building.
In faith we requested International Headquarters to send us officers for training of cadets. The last principal Captain Peter Chang of Korea left Hong Kong for USA in 1972 for further studies and the training work ceased. Three cadets were sent to the School for Officer Training in the Philippines. Now with the new facilities and the promise of overseas personnel, we were ready to open the Training College in the new building.
Commissioner Eva Burrows responded to our need for personnel by sending from the Melbourne Training College Captain and Mrs. Robert Paterson, so in the same year we were able to admit six new cadets. Among these were Cadets Simon and Belinda Tso who are currently the General Secretary and Secretary for Women’s Ministries of the Command respectively. Mrs. Captain Margaret Hay wife of the Principal of William Booth Secondary School Captain Laurence Hay was appointed as the Education Officer.
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