History of the Ladies Recreation Club - Hong Kong

" Ladies Club ? "

This is how all long time taxi drivers will confirm the destination with you if you hop into a cab and ask to go to the LRC. I always find it a reassuring reminder of the Club's true purpose.

My mother joined the Ladies Recreation Club in the 1960s, which is when I took swimming lessons in the LRC pool from Billy Tingle. At the time, the architecture of the LRC was very utilitarian and modern. I didn't notice. For me it was simply a marvelous place to come swimming, every day if possible, all summer long. I had no idea that I had missed by just a few years, the intriguing old "Junior Clubhouse" that had been built in 1915.

My family left in 1970. But after 30 years away, I was ready to come home to Hong Kong.

In 2008, when the LRC had its 125th anniversary, I volunteered to do research to see what I could find in the public domain on the Ladies Recreation Club, especially since everyone claimed that all the early records were "lost in the war".

This archive is the result. I spent many happy hours learning much more about how women had lived their lives in Old Hong Kong, which instilled in me a love of Hong Kong history. I have focused on the LRC from it's founding up to about the 1960s, a time which I can personally remember.

If anything new pops up, I'll add it to this archive.

(For those lucky enough to have had a membership at the the LRC, or have one now, there is a private Facebook Group called "I grew up at the LRC" )

(c) Copyright Annelise Pedersen Connell 2023 All rights reserved