FCC Hong Kong confirms passing of 2nd Vice President Kevin Barry H. Egan

The FCC’s 2nd Vice President, Kevin Egan.

It is with great sadness that the Foreign Correspondents’ Club confirms the unexpected passing of our legendary 2^nd Vice President, long-standing Governor and great friend Kevin Egan yesterday.

Kevin had suffered some ill health recently but appeared back to his usual energetic and humorous self; he was working full time on court work in his successful barrister’s practice and on Club matters having recently been elected as 2^nd Vice President. So this has come as a great shock to his family, friends and to all of us at the FCC who will greatly miss him.

We would request that the privacy of Kevin’s family and friends be observed at this difficult time. Details of Kevin’s funeral and memorial events will be circulated as soon as they are available. Kevin would no doubt have wanted us to celebrate his life in style and we fully intend to honour those wishes.

June 18, 2018

Minimum Spending Requirement: an Update

Dear fellow members,

Further to the FCC’s announcement on November 1 of the introduction of a HK$300
a month minimum spending requirement in January, members have given us feedback and suggestions that were carefully reviewed during our last Board meeting.

The board of governors has decided that as many members frequently travel, the spending requirement will be levied and collected quarterly (in March, June, September and December). This means for example, if from January through March, you spend HK$800, there will be an additional HK$100 charge to your bill for March.

As mentioned before, you can also meet the minimum spending requirement by buying take-away wine.

On behalf of the board of governors, thank you for your understanding and we look forward to your continued support of the club.

Yours sincerely,

Florence de Changy
FCC President

Update: Introduction of a Minimum Spending Requirement

20 November 2017

Dear fellow members,

Further to the FCC’s announcement on November 1 of the introduction of a HK$300 a month minimum spending requirement in January, members have given us feedback and suggestions that were carefully reviewed during our last Board meeting.

As mentioned before, you can also meet the minimum spending requirement by buying take-away wine.

On behalf of the board of governors, thank you for your understanding and we look forward to your continued support of the club.

Yours sincerely,

Florence de Changy

FCC President

Important Announcement

Dear Fellow Members,

As we start the Year of the Dog, 2018 will be for the FCC a year when we reluctantly bid farewell to our esteemed General Manager, Gilbert ‘Tiger’ Cheng. His retirement in August will mark the end of an era for our club, which he has steered since his appointment as General Manager in 2000.

Gilbert actually started work at the FCC in our previous home, Sutherland House (now CCB Tower) in 1972. His connection to the club’s history is heightened by the fact that he was mentored by legendary bar manager, Papa Liao, who had served in our even older homes in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Fully committed to all of us in that time, including 45 presidents, Gilbert has become the epitome of many things that we love about the club. In his own words: ‘Enjoy, forgive and forget, learn from yourself.’ He also has qualities we all wish we had: an encyclopaedic recall of names, an ability to deal smoothly with the most awkward of situations and the drive that comes from the fourth prong of his personal philosophy: ‘Don’t expect others to help you’, although many members of the club know how they can always expect Gilbert to help them.

Gilbert took over as acting general manager at a difficult time for the FCC, as we were losing members after the 1997 handover. Our membership has almost doubled since. The board is confident that with his assistance, our next general manager will help us meet our future challenges and build on Gilbert’s excellent legacy.

As he prepares to step down this coming summer, coinciding with his next birthday, Gilbert will continue to ensure that our staff are as dedicated as he has always been, and he will work closely with governors and his successor for as seamless a transition as possible.

Gilbert’s long service and importance to the club were previously recognized in 1997, when he was made an honorary life member. That should reassure all of us who can’t imagine the FCC without him.

In the months before his retirement, there will be more opportunities to celebrate and thank Gilbert for his extraordinary contribution to the FCC. In the meantime, we express our deepest gratitude to him for his distinguished service and congratulate him on all he has achieved in his career.

Yours sincerely,

Florence de Changy
FCC President

Dining Room – Extension of Opening Hours ON SUNDAYS

Dining Room – Extension of Opening Hours
ON SUNDAYS

Dear members,

With effect from 25 February 2018, FCC Dining Room will extend its opening hour on Sundays as follow:

Babies and infants, children under 12 are allowed in the Dining Room on Sundays.
Bookings for lunch or dinner are advised.
Tables will be held for 10 minutes after booking time.
12 persons is the maximum number of people permitted at a table.
Dress code will be the same as ground floor Lounge: Casual, which means wearing short, a T-shirt or beach footwear is allowed.
For more information about the booking policy and dress code, please visit http://www.fcchk.org/club-rules/ for further details.
Table reservations, please contact our restaurant directly at 2523 7734 or email to [email protected].

FCC Admin Office

Change of Dining Room’s Opening Hours

Chinese New Year 2018 Opening Hours

Typhoon and club operations

A Typhoon Signal #8 signal has been raised, which means limited operations at the club today.

The Club will open at 12:00 noon and remain normal operation.

If the T8 is lowered between 12:00 noon and before 5pm, the Club will be back to normal operation in three hours after the T8 is lowered.

If the T8 is not lowered before 5pm, the ground floor will open with a limited menu and will close at midnight.

If a Black Rainstorm Warning is hoisted during normal operating hours, the Club will remain open.

Stay safe everyone!

Temporary Suspension of CABLE TV Services

Dear members,

CABLE TV will undergo a network improvement and maintenance works, TV signal will be affected and temporarily suspended at the following period:

Date: Saturday, 13 January 2018

Time: 12:00-15:00

We apologize for any inconvenience may cause.

Admin Office

Invitation for Tender: Membership Coordination Services

Invitation for Tender

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is looking for a suitable individual or company to carry out the following project:

Membership Coordination Services

Contract period: 1 November 2016 – 31 October 2017

Deadline for tender: Monday, 31 October 2016

MISSION

To help with administration and analysis of the FCC’s membership.

BACKGROUND

The Club’s membership is drawn from a broad cross section of walks of life and includes many of Hong Kong’s best known and most interesting people. Members range from the reporters, photographers and radio and television teams who record and present the news to those who make it – starting with local government leaders and including many leading figures in the worlds of business and diplomacy.

The FCC is open to all, but there are five categories of membership. They are:

Correspondent: Bona fide members of the foreign media based in Hong Kong, the bulk of whose work is published outside Hong Kong.

Journalist: Bona fide journalists based in Hong Kong who make more than 50% of their income from their locally-based journalistic activities.

Associate: For those who are not employed in journalism or in the media yet who wish to take advantage of the FCC’s professional and social activities – this includes all professionals, authors and business people.

Corporate: These are transferable memberships with certain restrictions.

Diplomatic: Approved bona fide full-time members of the Hong Kong diplomatic corps.

ROLE OF THE CONTRACTOR

The contractor reports directly to the Membership Committee, and will liaise logistic through the Club management. Hence, contractor’s services are peripheral to the Club’s operation and are not integrated into it;
Hiring helpers to fulfill the job requirement is entirely up to the contractor’s decision at its own costs, however it is expected to include the plan in the tender;
Payment will be released per hours contributed each month upon submission of invoice with timesheet;
FCCHK holds all copyrights to all materials, and retains final approval for all content before release. FCCHK also reserves all rights to add, edit and remove any content before and after release.

EXPECTATION ON THE CONTRACTOR

Experience in working with journalistic organizations and media;
Provide its own tools and equipment to carry out the project.

Project Description

The Contractor is required to:

Attend each Membership Committee and any associated meetings organized by the Membership Committee;
Prepare monthly report and present it at the Membership Committee;
Revert requirement or comments of the Membership Committee on each membership application to the applicant in a timely manner, and then report to the Membership Committee;
Plan, prepare and execute any marketing scheme decided upon by the Membership Committee;
Respond to instructions and requests from the Membership Committee Convenors;
Respond to instructions and requests from the Membership Committee as a whole;
Research potential members to ascertain their suitability for the category of membership applied for
Deal with potential members who do not meet the requirements of the category of membership applied for, before or after a Membership Committee Meeting
Prepare reports on accelerated/diversity applicants for BOG meeting
Respond to telephone and email enquiries from potential members who have queries, particularly about completing the application form
Respond to telephone and email enquiries on which category a potential member should apply for (in particular the difference between Journalist and Correspondent memberships)
Assist find relevant signatories for an application as and when deemed necessary
Preparing copy for the Membership Column bi-monthly for the FCC magazine The Correspondent
Acknowledge that FCC holds all copyrights to all materials, and retains final approval for all content before release. FCC also reserves all rights to add, edit and remove any content before and after release;
Prepare a summary report of the project by 21 October 2017 to the Committee through the Club management. In the report it should include but not limited to all working files and access codes to any multimedia platforms. Release of the final payment is subject to a satisfactory submission.

Interested parties please submit your tender & a copy of your business registration before the deadline to:

FCC
North Block
2 Lower Albert Road
Central HK

Please quote reference code “MMC2016” and indicate “Tender for Membership Coordination Services 2016/2017” on your tender submission.

Any questions should be directed to the undersigned or our Administration Ms Joanne Chung at (tel) 2844 2830 or (email) [email protected].

Gilbert Cheng
General Manager
Tel: 2844 2844 / Email: [email protected]