Working committee formed to celebrate
former Police Cadet School 40th anniversary
The year 2013 will mark the 40th anniversary of the former Royal Hong Kong Police Cadet School. In 1973, the Cadet School officially came into being at a disused army camp at Fan Gardens in Fanling, providing boarding, vocational training and secondary education for cadets for two years. The school's second campus opened at Dodwell's Ridge in Sheung Shui in 1977.
By then the Cadet School served two aims: providing well-educated recruits for the disciplined services and offering character training for a proportion of the youth of Hong Kong.
The majority of the graduating cadets joined the Force and a substantial number of ex-cadets are still serving in the Force, having risen through the ranks. The remaining cadets joined either the other disciplined services, the commercial sector or the field of performing arts.
In the wake of the policy changes to the post-Form 3 education system, the Cadet School faced a recruitment problem. Therefore, its Dodwell's Ridge campus was closed in 1989, followed by that in Fan Gardens in 1990, marking the official closure of the entire school.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Cadet School in 2013, former police cadets have formed a working committee, which will be supported by various working teams. It is expected that a series of commemorative activities would be organised, such as an exhibition at Police Museum, an Open Day at Fan Gardens (now occupied by Police Driving and Traffic Training Division), Gala Night, publication of Cadet School's 40th Anniversary Edition, and interviews with ex-cadets and staff.
Two former cadets, artiste Dominic Lam from Course No.1 in the 1970s, and best actor Nick Cheung from Course No.17 in the 1980s, were interviewed recently.
Dominic still has a deep affection for every corner of the Cadet School. Though the training in the Cadet School was "very tough and demanding", most of his days in the school were "happy memory". He stressed: "Cadet School had largely groomed me to what I'm today. I'm really proud of being a police cadet. Closure of the school was a great loss to Hong Kong."
Echoing Dominic's views, Nick still misses his life as a Police Cadet. He noted: "Cadet School would not turn every cadet into a great man or assure his success in society, but it had groomed young boys to become good citizens and to serve society." The interview brought back to Nick fond memory of his foot drill training. Then he led several ex-cadets to go through their paces as if on their former parade ground.
A
happy reunion between Dominic Lam (centre) and former police cadets