Farewell to the Link
The Sai Kung District Council has brought the life of the District Link, the only English language publication supported by a DC in Hong Kong, to an end with its summer issue. The brainchild of Margi Abrey (who relinquished her editorship when she moved to Lantau in 1997), it came into being 12 years ago to provide information on developments in the community to the English speaking public, and has done an admirable job over the years. The production process has changed from paper cut and paste to the virtual kind, on the desktop, and the content has increased considerably.
According the Chairman, Mr. Ng Sze-fuk, the SKDC felt that a quarterly publication no longer meets the demands of efficient dissemination of information and the public would be better served through other types of communication, such as the Internet. Resources will be deployed to introduce more bilingualism into Sai Kung and to develop a liaison network with the Expat community.
Over the past seven years Sonja Welker has led the District Link team of volunteers and has been a familiar face around Sai Kung. She and her team have helped the Link grow and change with time to provide far more information than the original progress reports from the SKDC's various committees. The Link's annual directory of Sai Kung businesses has kept us all up to date and the hand drawn map of the centre of town could be seen in many a newcomer’s hand as they looked for various establishments. In addition, over $100,000 was raised over the six years that the Link team worked tirelessly on the annual District Link Christmas Quiz.
Our thanks to the SKDC for its role in pioneering the concept of the Link at a time when it was most needed and sincere congratulations to all who worked on the Link for a job well done!