Feature
Feature
Unsung Heroes
FCC members may not be familiar with the sterling work carried out by the International Social Service and its Hong Kong branch, which is now 50 years old. This excellent organisation launched a commemorative booklet at the FCC, an appropriate venue as two leading ISS-HK lights are among the Club’s longest-standing and most respected members. Jonathan Sharp reports
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nthony Lawrence may not be as mobile now as when I first met him, jumping in and out of helicopters in Vietnam in 1971. But at the age of 96, the BBC legend and ex-FCC President keeps in trim with two walks a day from his charming harbour-side apartment in Kennedy Town. And he recalls with pleasure how he first became involved with the ISS, a global organisation that helps people with personal or social problems whose solution requires cross-border cooperation. Not many years after the Hong Kong office of ISS opened for business in 1958, trial lawyer and later Justice Henry Litton approached Anthony and suggested he join the Service. Anthony agreed to do so. “Having decided that Hong Kong was the most convenient place in the world to settle down in, and having been back on a visit to London and found myself in what seemed to be a foreign country, I thought I had better give something back. “It was as straightforward as that. My wife was delighted at settling in Hong Kong. She was German – she’s passed away now – and although everybody was very nice to her when she came to England at the end of the war, she found it a very pleasant experience to go to a part of the world where nobody cares where you come from as long as you have nice manners.” As Anthony was away from home quite a lot with short-term reporting assignments, including many trips to cover the Vietnam War, wife Irmgard filled in her time learning Mandarin, “which she did extremely competently. The word in Hong Kong was that the husband is pretty stupid but his wife is quite bright.” As a simple, hypothetical example of what the ISS does, Anthony said a man might go from Hong Kong to America for a new job, with his family joining him in six months’ time, and in that time he falls into some kind of trouble. “That’s where the International part of the Social Service comes in. That’s where the American branch and the Hong Kong branch will both be there to help.” 4
THE CORRESPONDENT
Anthony is modest about his own contribution to the ISS, of which he used to be chairman. “I turn up at committee meetings.” As a tribute to his work, in 2002 the Service set up the Anthony Lawrence International Refuge for Newcomers. “I’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve that. These days they have to call things names and I think they had rather used up their names, so they even used the Lawrence name.” Among its many invaluable programmes, ISSHK has people posted at the airport to help arrivals with information. “This really is a down-to-earth and practical way of helping newcomers,” says Anthony. “As the name, the International Social Service, implies it does deal with problems which arise quite often where two countries are involved. You don’t get a flood of such cases but usually when they crop up they are very worrying for the people involved. One has the feeling, the longer one lives, and the better world communications become, there will be a growing number of cases where you need legal help in more than one country. I think our usefulness will certainly not diminish.”
AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS WORK, THE SERVICE SET UP THE ANTHONY LAWRENCE INTERNATIONAL REFUGE FOR NEWCOMERS. “I’VE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DESERVE THAT. THESE DAYS THEY HAVE TO CALL THINGS NAMES AND I THINK THEY HAD RATHER USED UP THEIR NAMES, SO THEY EVEN USED THE LAWRENCE NAME.” THE CORRESPONDENT
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