To many who studied at QES in the fifties and sixties, Mr. Hinton was the Principal. He was in fact, the second Principal in the history of QES. But he left an indelible mark in the hearts of all QES students. Even later students benefited from his legacy, for he was the one who shaped the character of our school.
Mr. Arthur Hinton started teaching at QES in 1954. When our first Principal, Mr. Cheung Wai-fung was promoted to Senior Education Officer in 1956, Mr. Hinton took over as our Principal and remained in this position until 1967. He then moved on to other high posts in Northcote College of Education and Chinese University before retiring in 1980. After spending a few years in Mrs. Hinton's homeland, Austria, he moved back to the UK and now resides in Derbyshire.
Retirement was no deterrent to Mr. Hinton in staying connected with his former students. In 1989, he paid a visit to alumni in Toronto and helped start the first QESOSA overseas chapter. Then came the Vancouver chapter, and then .....
...in February 1999, he came to California to visit the alumni here and sparked off the establishment of QESAAUSA.
White water rafting in Yosemite (Mr. Hinton is in the middle, wearing an orange cap)
In 2000, he made another trip to the West Coast, sweeping his way from Southern California, through Yosemite, San Francisco, and Napa Valley, before moving on to Vancouver for the Grand Reunion of alumni from all over Canada and USA.
Vivie Young (鮑媺媺 '62) conducted an email interview with Mr. Hinton in 2002. We are happy to report that Mr. Hinton, young at heart at 82, is still very active and participating in many activities. We have divided the interview into two parts: Hinton in Hong Kong and Hinton in Europe and also added a tribute written by Samuel Ling who attended QES in the '60s:
Hinton in HK
Mr. Hinton on the First Day of QES, Sept 1954(location - King's College)
Q. How was the 1966 class reunion in HK last December?
A. I was invited to HK by the 1966 graduates who had arranged a reunion. I was met at the airport by Amy Chan (Cheng Yi-yi), who had arranged my flight, and Lui Sung-yee, and taken to the home of Chow Tung-shan where I was to stay. From then on I was looked after with great kindness and generosity by them and other old students.
QES was holding its Speech Day on the afternoon of my arrival and I had hoped to attend it but decided that I might well fall asleep during the ceremony, for I had not slept during the journey which started about eight hours before the actual flight. After a short rest, however, I was able to enjoy a good dinner with, among others, Walter and Helene Ng, who had returned from Vancouver for the reunion.
Two days later the Reunion Dinner was held, a cheerful and lively occasion, at which some slides of school life in the 60s were shown and a few energetic souls joined in a little folk-dancing. Several of those present, some from outside HK, had not met for forty years, so there was no lack of conversation and exchange of news. I enjoyed it immensely.
The following day about 25 of us met at the Chi Lin monastery and had a fascinating guided tour there, after which we went on to the school camp where we were welcomed by Mrs. Pang, the present Principal of QES, and camp wardens. The camp was opened in 1962 on a site that a group of us, including Mr. Walter Ng, Mr. David Tam and a number of students, had found the previous year. Mr. Ng and Mr. Tam organized the first camp wardens' course, with the help of a few past students. It was very pleasing to find that the camp was still used after more than 41 years and that camp wardens are still being trained to help run it. After our visit to the camp and refreshments there, we went to the beautiful campus of the Science and Technology University in the Clear Water Bay area, after which we adjourned for dinner in a seafood restaurant in Sai Kung.
In the days that followed I enjoyed meeting (and being deliciously fed by) several small groups of old students. I also visited Agnes Chow (Ma Wan-ming) who, as many of you know, had a terrible accident a few years ago. Though she will never completely recover and be her old self again, she has made remarkable progress and her strong religious faith is helping her to accept her disabilities.
I went to the Old Students' Association Secondary School at Tin Shiu Wai and was asked to say a few words at the morning Assembly, and afterwards paid brief visits to the kindergarten and primary schools. I am tremendously impressed by the good work being done in those schools and very pleased that the OSA has shown this commitment to education. Many old students are assisting with this work, financially or in other ways, and I cannot list all their names, but the enterprise and hard work of Tsoi Heung-sang and Susanna, Lai Yuet-sam, deserve special mention.
At age 81, Mr. Hinton went back to work at his old job in QES...well, almost...at the Principal's desk in December 2001.
I was also invited to QES to speak briefly to the students. It was the last day of term and the whole day was given over to a students' concert. I was pleased to see that the students showed a lot of imagination and talent, and that the good spirit and enthusiasm that have always marked the school are as strong as ever. I and a few old students who were there joined the staff in a buffet lunch and I was impressed by the good spirit among the teachers. Mrs. Pang has obviously established good relations with staff and students and I feel that QES is in good hands.
During my stay I was also taken to the Museum of History, where there was an impressive display of The Hong Kong Story, and to a ballet in the Cultural Centre. Both indicate the great cultural strides that Hong Kong has taken in recent decades. After this enjoyable visit to HK I spent three days in Kuala Lumpur where I stayed with one of my old Malaysian students whom I taught between 1949 and 1952. I also met a former colleague and a few other old students and am happy that I retain such friendly links even after 50 years. The time has passed quickly, a sign that I have been fortunate and happy in my life.
Hinton in Europe
Vivie Young (鮑媺媺 '62) conducted an email interview with Mr. Hinton recently. We are happy to report that Mr. Hinton, young at heart at 82, is still very active and participating in many activities. Here he talks about his trips to Sardinia, Corsica and France last year; about volunteer work; and his memoirs.
At a 1956 staff party for Mr. Cheong Wai-fung to congratulate him on his promotion to Senior Education Officer. Mrs. Cheong is at the far right
Q.How was your recent trip to Sardinia and Corsica?
A. My recent trip to Sardinia (Italian) and Corsica (French) was very enjoyable. Both are lovely islands with spectacular coastline, old fishing ports, mediaeval fortifications, and Corsica in particular is very mountainous. I would love to spend more time in both places, but that applies also to many other places I have visited. With the introduction of the euro I did not have to change currency when passing from one country to the other. I hope it will not be long before Britain decides to adopt the euro.
Q.What other places did you visit last year?
A.In March last year I spent two weeks in Austria, mainly in Vienna. It is a country and city that I love and where I have friends and relatives and to which I am returning for a few days next month. In April I went to Bruges, Belgium, for three days, for an annual reunion of the few remaining friends with whom I worked in Berlin in 1945-6. Only three of us out of the ten are still alive but we meet, together with wives, in a different place each year. In June I spent three weeks in France with a close friend. We drove down to Provence, in the south of the country, through lovely country, and then visited several of the historic towns in Provence - Avignon, Nimes, Arles, Nice and Grasse, the centre of the perfume industry - and also went to Monte Carlo, though not to gamble. I always enjoy being in France and that was a lovely trip. I also had a visitor in September with whom I went to Lille in Northern France for three days and then to Cornwall in southeast England, where we visited two magnificent gardens. Then in December I went to Hong Kong and, on the way home, spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Mr. Hinton at his 80th birthday in 2000, together with his son, Peter, and daughter, Hedy Ann.
Q.Are you still taking Spanish lessons?
A.Yes, I go to a small class once a week, mainly conversation, and prepare a short written article to read out then. I read a little Spanish most evenings. The object is to keep my mind active, afraid that, like the body, it will atrophy if not exerted. I also try to keep up my French and German but I am afraid that my little Cantonese is rapidly disappearing.
Q.Are you doing any volunteer work?
A.I am not now doing any volunteer work apart from sometimes writing letters for Amnesty International on behalf of prisoners of conscience in various countries and remaining an active member of my religious group, the Quakers.
I have also volunteered to translate a History of Hungary, written in Spanish in the 17th century, for an Austrian friend who collects old manuscripts about countries along the River Danube.
Q.How is your memoirs coming along?
A.As regards my memoirs, I am slowly pushing ahead with them and have now reached 1997, but I'll need to check the whole thing through and revise it. One trouble is that I have clear audience in mind. At first I was writing for my grandchildren and that would have involved mentioning many family incidents. Then a few old students urged me to write something and they will be more interested in school matters and not family. Then one of my former colleagues from the Chinese University suggested that I should include discussion of educational matters, so there is a mixture of things with no clear direction. I am also finding difficulty with names. There are so many people, students and colleagues, whom I would like to mention but obviously I cannot mention them all and it might cause offence if I name some and not others who are just as worthy. My daughter has read some of it and finds it dull, which it probably is. I don't know what I'll do with it eventually, not really knowing anybody who would be interested in publishing it, though I never thought of it as a way of earning money. I hope I'll have finished it by the end of this year and will then have to decide what to do with it. Maybe I'll just print out a few copies and send them to individuals to copy them further for anyone interested, or perhaps there is an old student in the printing or publishing trade who could take over the affair.
Manying Ip (Sung Man Ying '62, now residing in New Zealand) and Emily Hung (Tsang Shun Han '62, now residing in the Netherlands) visited Mr. Hinton at his home in Chesterfield, England in May. Here are their reports.
| Manying
Ip:
We visited Mr Hinton on Monday 17 May 2004. |
| Emily
Hung:
I've been back in Amsterdam for a few days. Both Manying and I
enjoyed our trip to London very much. It was warm and sunny during
those days, and we made full use of our time for sightseeing. We
visited Hampton Court, Cambridge, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon,
Bath and Stonehenge. Besides Cole Porter's musical 'Anything Goes'
with its outstanding tap-dances, we had the opportunity to see
'Romeo and Juliet' at the rebuilt Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
We could only buy tickets for standing space, so we became 'groundlings'
for 3 hours. We managed by leaning against some wooden boards and
sitting for a while during the pause. |