Hearts of servitude
志愿的心
Each community has its own heroes, who paved the way and made room for growth. The Leeds Chinese Community Association and school are trying their best to carry on the legacies left behind by their founding members.
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Ultimately, the Leeds Chinese Community Association was formed in 1995 to act as an umbrella association for all the Chinese community organisations in Leeds. They had been provided with the Chinese Community Centre located on North Street by the council. Currently, the Wah Kwong Association, Leeds Yuk Ming Cantonese Operatic Arts Centre, Leeds Chinese Community School , and the Lion Dance Troupe operate under the name of the LCCA.
Things were a little different back in the day, as more subgroups had been part of the association but have hence left due to differences.
Leeds Chinese Christian Church had once been part of the initial association but had left soon after. The church currently operates from their premises in Kirkstall Road with roughly around 250 members from their Cantonese, Mandarin and English services. They also run the Leeds Chinese School teaching Mandarin lessons to over 90 students.
The Leeds Chinese Womens Group, who used to handle lunch club operations and run training activities for women, was also under the LCCA until they left their premises at 10 Merrion Street due to lack of funding.
Despite spearheading fewer groups now, the LCCA carry on doing what they can and provide the support they can give to the wider Chinese community. As said in their mission statement on their website, the LCCA volunteers strive to reach out to the disadvantaged Chinese community, to eradicate social isolation, economic poverty, and racial discrimination.
Some of their more popular events are the Tuesday and Thursday social lunch club sessions in the centre which is partially paid for by the council’s adult social care fund. The opera group also hold singing sessions on Mondays in the centre.
“I come twice a week to the lunch club because you can talk to people over a properly cooked meal,” says Olivia Robertson, a lovely lady at the end of a Tuesday lunch session. “I live on my own and I don’t know how to cook Chinese food you see. Also, they have my favourite Chinese soups.”
She goes out of her way, changing three buses from Wakefield to reach the community centre.
“Sometimes we even play mahjong or go somewhere together for a holiday. I’m very happy here,” adds Mrs Robertson with a grin.
Olivia Robertson (far right) together with fellow lunch club goers. (Photo credit: Shin Lee)
Longtime volunteer Mo Ching Chan had seen the association go through many ups and downs. “My father, Tak Lun Yung was the youngest member who participated in forming the Wah Kwong Association in 1966 at only 17 years-old,” she says. Mr Yung had also been a part of setting up the Leeds Chinese Community School (LCCS) in the same year.
“I can say that the objective of Wah Kwong and the LCCA has remained the same since then. To support and help the Chinese who don’t understand English with daily needs like translating letters or making calls to authorities.”
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Although Mrs Chan has currently left her role as a volunteer for the LCCA, she continues to help those who approach her personally. She believes that it was because of her father’s upbringing and influence on her as a child that has made her who she is today.
"Since my father passed away, a lot of people still miss my father for his kindness as he’s been the school treasurer for a long time," says Mo Ching Chan as she remembers her father. (Photo credit: Shin Lee)
(On the right) 18-years-old Mo Ching Chan together with her friends in Halifax.
“In his spare time, he always helped the community and brought everyone together. Even though he passed on six years ago he hoped that I could carry on his good causes,” Mo Ching Chan says. She knows that being a kind and generous person will bring gain to everyone. “There is a need,” she adds. “Everybody has to come together to help and know each other to reduce isolation.
Currently, Mrs Chan is still teaching voluntarily at the Chinese school which her father helped set up, and has taught there for 34 years now. Alongside 30 other teachers, she takes time out on Sundays to teach Mandarin and Cantonese based on her academic knowledge from Hong Kong at their rented premises in the Grammar School at Leeds, Alwoodley Gates.
(bottom right) Mo Ching Chan's father Tak Lun Yung along with fellow founding members in the LCCS 50th Anniversary booklet.
Just slightly before noon, parents stroll into the school’s hallway, with their children in hand. It’s almost time for class to start. Inside one of the classrooms, some of the students are already seated, with their books laid out neatly on the tables waiting for their teacher’s arrival.
Soon, muffled chants of students and teachers repeating Mandarin and Cantonese phrases can be heard from every corner and thus begins the transfer of cultural and linguistic knowledge.
To have a supplementary school run solely on volunteer power is certainly an achievement for the LCCS.
Currently, in their 52nd year, the school has 11 classes ranging from below Year One to A-Levels, with over 200 students from all backgrounds. A majority of the teachers are also parents of the students who have made a commitment to pass on their knowledge of the Chinese languages.
All of them hold day jobs as well while juggling community school lesson plans. Hailing from Malaysia, head teacher Yiling Chan is one of them. “We spend our Sundays here, but honestly, we do much more work than that,” she shares.
There is a need. Everybody has to come together to help and know each other to reduce isolation
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- Mo Ching Chan
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“Committee members have to liaise with external organisations, do paperwork throughout the week.” A lot of their email exchanges happen in the middle of the night when everyone is in bed after their long days at work.
That doesn’t stop the teachers from putting in their all. “It’s amazing working with these bunch of people who have so much passion, it’s almost addictive,” says Mrs Chan. “The more work we put in, the more results we see, and therefore we get more enthusiasm from the volunteers.”
It’s important for our children to remember their roots
- Yiling Chan
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Besides teaching the languages, the school also runs cultural activities and programs. Recently, the students were exposed to Chinese traditional music when the Guangzhou No.6 Middle School Youth Orchestra were invited to the school and to their Chinese New Year fundraiser event. Children are also encouraged to enter national calligraphy and performing arts competitions organised by the UK Association for the Promotion of Chinese Education (UKAPC) and the UK Federation of Chinese Schools (UKFCS).
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“I think it’s important for our children to remember their roots,” Yiling Chan adds. She explains that her children are often the only Chinese in their Halifax school and playgrounds. “The UK isn’t a very conducive environment for our children to learn about Chinese culture,” Mrs Chan says.
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“They speak English in school with other children and there isn’t an incentive for speaking the Chinese language.” She feels that while in the LCCS, they are surrounded by fellow Mandarin-speaking friends, making it easier to keep in touch with the language.
(Left) Yiling Chan and Joyce Cai have been serving the school for almost 3 years
(Right) Tatum Yip giving a speech together with co-chair Bei Gao at the new year gala (Photo credit: Shin Lee)
Longtime LCCS chairperson Tatum Yip shares that the school has faced many close shaves with shutting down, but is grateful that it is still going strong. “If we hadn’t introduced Mandarin lessons in 2005 when demand for Cantonese lessons were declining, we would’ve closed for sure,” says Mrs Yip. “We used to be funded by the government but not anymore,” she adds.
The continuous decrease in Cantonese students is still a worry for the LCCS. Deputy head teacher Joyce Cai says: “Cantonese is a little more difficult compared to Mandarin, but we do want to keep classes running to preserve the language in Leeds.” Most parents are opting to enroll their children in Mandarin classes which are deemed more useful in this day and age, there seems to be a danger in the losing the art of speaking Cantonese.
She admits that the LCCS understand that government cuts are inevitable. “We collect school fees and sponsorships which sustains us, but if we wanted to take the next step to think about paying teachers or finding a permanent premise to house growing numbers, that would be tough.” They are content with where they are but their long-term plans are proving to be difficult to realise.
As the school continues to grow in numbers, the volunteers are being stretched with their limited manpower while trying their best to preserve and pass down their knowledge of the language and culture. It might be a long journey before they are able to pay the volunteers, but they remain hopeful.