Press Release

Singer Joey Yung is the icon of Harbour Protection

(19 April 2005)

Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH) launched the “Kids Love the Harbour Campaign” in April to educate the public, especially the younger generation, about the urgency and importance of protecting Victoria Harbour. The Society is honoured to have pop star Ms. Joey Yung as its “Ambassador of Harbour Protection”.

Joey attended Ma Tau Chung Government Primary School ( Hung Hom Bay) today where Mr. Hardy Lok, the Director of SPH, formerly appointed her as SPH’s “Ambassador of Harbour Protection”. Joey then took an oath pledging her commitment to spread the message of harbour protection to the public, in particular young adults and children. She also pledged to set a good example herself as an environmentally considerate individual.

Joey’s new hit - “Amazing Grace” – has been chosen as the harbour protection theme song. She has also donated a 1,000 pieces of a special edition “Amazing Grace” CD single to help SPH’s fund raising campaign.

Mr. Hardy Lok thanked Joey wholeheartedly for her support to SPH’s campaign. He said, “The song ‘Amazing Grace’ is about adoring and cherishing what we have, and therefore matches nicely the theme and spirit of our harbour protection campaign. I am sure that the youthful and positive image of Joey and her song will further our course and attract more young people to care about our environment.”

He continued, “ Victoria Harbour is a very delicate and precious natural asset that deserves our love and protection. Before the government “ruthlessly” reclaims even more of the harbour for short-term economic gain, we will educate the public on the importance of harbour protection, and ask for their support.”

To mark the end of the event, Joey and the guests, including SPH’s chairperson Ms Christine Loh, Director Mr. Hardy Lok and Advisor Mr. Winston Chu, joined students to pledge their commitment towards harbour protection. More than 1000 students waved blue ribbons and chanted in strong voice the slogan “Harbour Protection starts with Kids”.

Christine Loh, Chairperson of SPH, said she appreciated the support of the students and Joey. She emphasised , “the slogan is actually the core theme of our campaign: that we should start to foster in our children the concept of environmental protection. They are, after all, the future of our society,” she added.

She went on to say, “organizing the event at Ma Tau Chung Government Primary School ( Hung Hom Bay) is particularly meaningful as it is located next to Victoria Harbour. Today has been a good start to our campaign, and we will continue to spread the message to more schools over the weeks and months ahead.”

In addition, SPH has printed 100,000 copies of the story book, “The Adventure of Victoria”, which is about the history and protection of the Victoria Harbour. The book will be sold in primary schools to raise funds for SPH on Earth Day on 22 April. Meanwhile, the fashion chain Giordano has printed 4 special designs of T-shirts featuring the cartoon of the storybook, also for the cause of fund-raising. For every purchase of a T-shirt, customers will get a free copy of the story book.

For inquiries, please feel free to contact Mr. Angus Ho on 6176 1757 or Ms. Elizabeth Chan on 9741 0652.