December 2012 Newsletter

 Connecting in Christchurch

Wong Family Reunion

Saturday 19^th & Sunday 20^th

January 2013

The Wong Family Reunion Committee would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all in Christchurch on the 19^th and 20^th January.

We have had a fantastic response to our reunion and have 126 people registered to attend. This is wonderful and we look forward to seeing you all. If there is anyone who is still undecided about attending, please do let us know. You are still welcome to register, however we do need to know straight away as we are finalising our catering requirements.

Things To Note

• Remember to dig out all your old photos and documents so that you can share them with your extended family members. You can bring your albums, make up your own photo board or bring loose photos. We will have boards for you to attach them to for displaying in the hall. If you have photo files on computer, bring them on a memory stick so that we can show them through a projector onto a screen. Any PowerPoint presentations will also be shown through the projector and laptop available.
• One suggestion from a family member was for a musical performance. If anyone is interested in performing (e.g. singing or providing some live music) please let us know so that we can schedule you into our programme.
• Our reunion dinner on Saturday night is BYO. There will be tea and fruit juice supplied but you are welcome to bring your own wine.

Wong Family Reunion Blog: http://christchurch2013.blogspot.co.nz/

It contains a brief history of Willie Wong, Wong Kwai Koon, Harry Wong and George Qu Wong. This has been updated with information about the reunion, people registered to attend and interesting photos.

We are still accepting donations of goods or gifts…

which can be used during the weekend. Please let us know if you are planning to bring these along so that we can add them to our list.

• Donations of prizes for the activities - for all age groups
• Donations of food items e.g. fruit, chocolates, refreshments, wine

As the extended Wong family has spread far and wide both professionally and geographically, many family members will have close affiliations with generous organisations. Do you work in such a workplace/company? Every little bit, big or small, will help towards this great weekend.

Any money left over will be donated to the St Michael's School Foundation Appeal which was established to help towards repairing earthquake damage to the school and strengthening the school buildings for the future. Many Wong Family members were educated at this school so we believe that this is a very worthwhile cause
 

General call for volunteers:

As our committee is small, we need volunteers during the weekend. All help is much appreciated.  Please just step forward when you arrive and ask us what you can do to help.

As many family members are flying to Christchurch for the weekend we would appreciate any assistance with transport.

Only FOUR weeks to go!

See you all at St Michael and All Angels School, 249 Durham Street

on the 19^th January 2013.

The hall will be open from 8.30am for registration.

Cecil Wong, Janice Sew Hoy, Lillian Gin, Mary Young

 

December 2012

 

October 2012 Newsletter

Connecting in Christchurch

Wong Family Reunion

       Saturday 19^th & Sunday 20^th January 2013

St Michael and All Angels School 

249 Durham Street

You will all be looking forward to warmer weather. It may seem that we have come out of hibernation after winter; however the group has not been idle. We have managed to confirm more details and calculate costs for the weekend.

Now is the time to confirm your travel and accommodation arrangements…

The Wong Family Reunion is now only three and a half months away. Due to the large amount of interest amongst members of our Family Tree, we are expecting a great turnout. Thank you to the family members who have given us feedback so far. We have found your comments/suggestions most helpful.

Old photos and documents:

Now is the time to start looking through your old photo albums to recall the wonderful memories from the past that you would like to bring along to the reunion. You could make up a photo board or put them in a photo album which we will display during the reunion. Some of you may also have other items of interest such as old immigration documents, poll tax documents etc. to bring along. Any PowerPoint presentations will be shown through the projector and laptop available.

Wong Family Reunion Blog:

We have set up a blog on the internet with details of the programme for the reunion. It also contains a brief history of Willie Wong, Wong Kwai Koon, Harry Wong and George Qu Wong.  This will be kept up to date with information about the reunion, people registered to attend and any interesting items.

Bookmark this website now:   http://christchurch2013.blogspot.co.nz/

We are looking for more funding for this event...

We are also looking for donations of prizes for activities…

·       Suitable sponsors for this event

·       Donations of money

·       Donations of prizes for the activities - for all age groups

·       Donations of food items eg. fruit, chocolates, refreshments, wine

As the extended Wong family has spread far and wide both professionally and geographically, many family members will have close affiliations with generous organisations. Do you work in such a workplace/company? Every little bit, big or small, will help towards this great weekend.

Any money left over will be donated to the St Michael's School Foundation Appeal which was established to help towards repairing earthquake damage to the school and strengthening the school buildings for the future. Many Wong Family members were educated at this school so we believe that this is a very worthwhile cause.

General call for volunteers:

As our committee is small, we need volunteers in the lead up to and during the weekend. All help is much appreciated.  We will be formulating a detailed “jobs list” to ensure that the weekend runs smoothly.

Registration forms and registration fee details…

…are attached to this newsletter. The fee is an all inclusive fee for all reunion activities, meals and bus trip as detailed on the programme. We have endeavoured to keep costs as low as possible.

If you haven't received your Registration Form please contact us.
Please register by 17 November 2012.

Cecil Wong   cecilw88@ihug.co.nz       Janice Sew Hoy     pjsewhoy@gmail.com

Lillian Gin  ginlk@hotmail.com             Mary Young           young5@xtra.co.nz

We Will Be At The Reunion (Updated 15 January 2013)

Willie Wong's Descendents	Harry Wong's Descendents	George Qu Wong's Descendents
Mary & Donald Young	Cecil & Nancy Wong	Darrell & Lynnette Wong
Katrina Young	Sharon Wong & Steve Lee	Kimberly Wong
Tracey Young	Alexandra Gee	Hilton, Viv, Ethan, Tate & Gryffen King
Lillian & Bill Gin	(Our Youngest Attendee 7 Months)	Shirley & Allan lay
Christopher Gin	Andrea Wong	Brandon Lay & Sui In Chan
Shirley Lowe	Gregory Wong	Sai Hong Chan (Welcome)
Lloyd & Zachary Wong	Hing & Nancy Wong	Jayden & Tiana Lay
Rita Sew Hoy (Welcome)	Terence & Sue Wong	Megan & Devlin Lee-Joe
Diana & Stephen Young	Craig Wong & Nicole Chen	Andre, Jessica, Xavier & Noah Lee Joe
Stephen & Katie Carroll Lun	Jason Wong	Samantha & Christopher Twyman (King)
Memphis & Courtney Lun	Janice & Peter Sew Hoy	Rachel, Bradley, & Jonathan Twyman
Sylvia & Kevin Young	Karena Sew Hoy	Sarah & Anthony Nicalo (From Vancouver)
George Lun Kee	Colin & Vanessa Wong	Rafe & Leo Nicalo (From Vancouver)
(Our Oldest Family Member 91 years)	Natasha, Caitlin & Harrison Wong	Gloria & Jim Kum
Lisa Lun	Geoffrey Wong	Nicholas Kum
Lionel Wong & Marjorie Wong	May & Ken Young	Doris King
Matthew Wong	Lindsay Young	Robert & Ryan King
Lyndon Wong	Victor Wong	Gregory & Serena King
Nancy Wong	Richard Wong	Madeleine, Ashley, Natasha & Jaime King
Allan & Clarissa Lun	Kevin & Eileen Wong	Davina Wong
David Lun	James Wong	Joshua & Anton Stoddard
Angela Lowe	Rosanna & Chin Seow	Mark Kum & Sonya Ng
Stanley & Betty Lun	Michael Seow	Zoe & Zachary Ng
Samuel Lun	Jessica Seow	Conroy Wong, Lily Huang & Jessica Wong
Lawrence & Sue Wong		Lily's Mum (Welcome)
Natasha, Sarah, Emma & Melissa Wong
Catherine Gin (From Philadelphia)
Numbers = 40	Numbers = 35	Numbers = 53
	Total = 128

Willie Wong 黃貴槐

Willie Wong (Wong Kwai Wai) -  Born 9 July 1889

Willie Wong arrived in New Zealand around 1919 and settled in Timaru before shifting to Christchurch.

Lived at 22 Southwark St. Christchurch in his early years.

After working initially at Harry Wong’s shop in Colombo St. he bought his own fruit shop at 777 Colombo St near Armagh St corner.

He shifted house to 59 Armagh St. in the late 1940's or early 1950's and then after his death the family shifted to      245 Memorial Av. Fendalton

Willie Wong passed away on 8 April 1964

Wong Kwai Koon 黃貴權

Wong Kwai Koon - Born 1891

Brother of Willie & Harry Wong
 
While in New Zealand he lived in Wellington.
 

He has descendents living in China.

Died in Wellington on 17 December 1953 at the age of 62 and is buried in Karori Cemetery.

The name written on the headstone is "Wong Quei Kien"

Harry Wong 黃貴邦

Harry Wong  (Wong Kwai Bong) -  Born 17 December 1895

Harry Wong arrived in New Zealand on 20 October 1919 on the ship Riverina.

He settled in Christchurch and worked as a market gardener, then a laundry man before becoming a fruiterer.

The market garden was in Cranford St.and is now part of the northern motorway.

His first fruit shop was in Colombo St. near Columbus & Ware. He later shifted to another shop in Colombo St. near Tuam St. This shop was eventually sold to Annie & Hubert Lowe in 1948 in order for the family to be able to return to China.

After Harry Wong sold the shop, the NZ government changed it policy and allowed Chinese immigrants to stay in NZ.  So in October 1949, Harry Wong together with his second son Hing, bought a fruit shop at 102 Stanmore Rd. Linwood.

His first house was at 219 Moorhouse Ave in Christchurch which he purchased for about 300 pounds. This was a villa on the northern side of the street between Durham St. and Montreal St. It was a 3 bedroom house with a lounge and a kitchen dining area on the northern side.

In the rear yards was a laundry shed, outside toilet, garage and chicken coup.

The family lived in this house from the early 1940’s to 1950.

 In the early 1950’s the family shifted to a bigger house at 116 Stanmore Rd. Linwood. He lived in this house until his death on the 6 June 1960.

George Qu Wong 黃橋浩

            George Qu Wong -  Born in 1904   

George Qu Wong’s Grand Mother and Willie, Koon, & Harry’s Grand Mother are sisters.

George Qu Wong and his wife Lin Sue lived in the village of  Sha Tou which is situated across the railway line from the village of Bak Shek.

George Qu Wong arrived in New Zealand in the early 1920’s and worked in a market garden and then later in Harry Wong’s fruit shop in Colombo St. Christchurch.

When the fruit shop was sold in the late 1940’s to Annie & Hubert Lowe George found work in a brick-making factory.

While working in Christchurch George and his family of seven children lived at 12 Ferry Rd.

George later shifted to Dunedin and bought a rundown fruit shop at 300 Highgate, Roslyn and with the help of his family turned it into a successful venture.

George also later bought a dairy at 59 Kenmure Rd. Dunedin. They lived in the house that George had built at the rear of the dairy.

George Qu Wong passed away 15 August 1974

Updated Program (as at 9 January 2013)

  Connecting in Christchurch

Wong Family Reunion Program

St Michael and All Angels School

249 Durham Street

Saturday 19th January 2013

 

8:30 am            Hall opens

Setting up photo displays (boards, albums, electronic)

9:00 am            Registration

Getting to know you…

View Family Photos and Family Tree

10:00 am          Welcome

Early years in Christchurch Photo-story: Willie, Harry and George Qu Wong

 Ancestral Village in China (panel presentation)

 

10:30 am          Morning Tea

11:00 am          Who’s who … Introduction of families by members of each branch

12:30 pm          Lunch

1.30 pm            Group Photo Session

2.00 pm            Individual Families Photo Session

Mix and mingle

Fun ‘n’ games

 

3.00 pm            Afternoon tea

Remembrance time

Cutting the Reunion Cake

Mix and mingle

Fun ‘n’ games

6.30 pm            Reunion Dinner

                                                (North and South Restaurant - 300 Lincoln Road, Addington)

9:30 pm            Clubbing in Christchurch … (optional)

Sunday 20^th January 2013

10am – 12pm    Christchurch Red Zone bus tours 

10am/11:15am  Buses to cemetery

Morning Tea  

12:30pm           BBQ Lunch

2:30pm             Official Farewell

 

Time afterwards to continue to mix and mingle at the hall

 

6pm                  Hall Close

3rd March Newsletter

Connecting in Christchurch

                                  

Wong Family Newsletter

If you haven’t done so already, mark the date 19^th – 20^th January 2013 into your diaries now. We have an exciting weekend of formal and social events planned for you. As this is our first Wong family reunion our aim is for everyone to be able to mix and mingle as much as possible. For the older generation it will be a chance to meet all your relatives again. For the younger generation it is a wonderful opportunity to meet and socialise with new cousins.

Building our Database

We want to make sure that we reach every member of the Wong Family. A copy of the family tree has been included in this newsletter so that you can see who it involves. The family tree was last updated about 6 years ago so needs correcting and updating again. We hope to have printed copies available at the reunion. Please send updated NAMES & DATES of births, marriages & deaths to Cecil at cecilw88@ihug.co.nz

Communication is important. We need to be able to contact everyone. Email seems to be the best method. Please could everyone send an email to reply to this newsletter. We will then collate an up to date database of email addresses. If you know of any family member who does not have an email address, please let us know their postal address. A 100% response to this email would be greatly appreciated.

Please could you email to cecilw88@ihug.co.nz names and numbers now if you are planning to attend. An idea of numbers attending will be a great help for planning and logistical purposes and also for us to be able to finalise costs.

If you think you can help in any way with any aspect of the reunion please do not hesitate to let us know. If you have any suggestions then please also let us know. For starters dig out your old family photos now.

Make your accommodation plans now.

Accommodation can be a major cost of your trip to Christchurch. As you can see from our plans above, our reunion date is confirmed. We recommend that you make your accommodation arrangements early. Due to the earthquake there are a reduced number of hotel rooms. Motels are relatively expensive compared with other places around NZ!

Cost of the Reunion

A registration form will be sent to you soon. It will detail the registration costs per person. Our aim has been to keep these registration costs down. Hopefully there will be lots of volunteers for various jobs to avoid the cost of hiring.

We will also welcome donations. We need to cover many extra costs e.g. hire of hall, buses, bbq and audio visual/ sound equipment. Any surplus money will be donated to St Michael’s and All Angels School for their Earthquake fund. Many of the Wong families went to St Michael’s School.

LOOKING FORWARD TO A GREAT REUNION WEEKEND IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Regards,

Lillian Gin, Mary Young, Janice Sew Hoy & Cecil Wong

First Newsletter

WONG

FAMILY REUNION                                                                     Newsletter 1, September 2011

Dear Family Member,

There comes a time in the life of most families when a reunion, a gathering of the clan, would seem like a good idea.  A few of us have got together recently and thought it would be good to make that idea a reality.

Like all families, the Wong family has grown in number and many no longer live in the towns where they were born. Our busy lives and the distances that separate us have meant that we no longer keep in touch with all members of the extended family: our children may not know who their relatives are or what they look like. It is time to hold our first-ever reunion – to renew our family ties, to introduce the different generations to each other, and to remember where we come from.

We thought that we should meet again in the city where it all began for the Wong family – Christchurch. It was where both Harry and Willie Wong settled after emigrating from China and the initial port of entry for George Qu Wong.

The reunion would involve as many members of the different branches as possible, that is the descendants of Willie Wong, Wong Kwai Koon, Harry Wong, Aunty Wong/Mrs Low, and George Qu Wong.

It is always hard to decide on a date that would suit most people, but we thought that the weekend of

Saturday 19 – Sunday 20 January 2013 would be good as

• it gives us all sufficient time (over a year) to plan;

• schools and universities are still on holiday, giving everyone the option of spending extra days in Christchurch if they wish;

• the summer weather is pleasant enough to allow for outings and outdoor photo shoots;

• and holding the reunion at this time would mean avoiding any public holiday surcharges for restaurants, etc.

Although we are still in the very early stages of planning, we hope to keep you informed. So far, we have a small steering committee of four, and we are now looking for more people to help with the organization: preferably someone from each branch that is not represented yet. Please could you email us if you would like to join the organising group (contact details are as listed below).

So, please put the date, time and place for this reunion in your diary for 19-20 January 2013, CHRISTCHURCH and look out for more newsletters from us – we’ll be in touch!

Kind regards,

Cecil Wong  cecilw88@ihug.co.nz   Janice Sew Hoy pjsewhoy@gmail.com

Lillian Gin ginlk@hotmail.com    Mary Young  young5@xtra.co.nz