A Brief History of the Founding of Nav Bharat Club
by Udham Singh Dillon - 4th September, 2007
The Nav Bharat Club was founded on 28th April 1951, by five persons. They were the late Mohinder Singh Wasan, Pritam Singh, Daya Ram, the late Jagdish Verma and myself, Udham Singh Dillon.The whereabouts of Daya Ram is not known, and thus far, Pritam and I are the only two known surviving founding members having happily settled down in Canada. Pritam, who is 76, is in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and I,
84, in Toronto,Ontario. Being one of the founding members of the Club, I have been requested to write a short summary
in respect of its founding.
The five of us had felt strongly that an Indian Club ought to be constituted to cater for the sporting and social needs of our community ( Indian) in Hong Kong. We looked into the various minimum requirements needed to establish it and concluded that initial funding was our only problem.This, fortunately, was overcome when discussing this with our business friends who opined with confidence that the Indian business community, which in those days were predominately Sindhis, would give financial support. We therefore felt assured, and with confidence decided to proceed with the venture of achieving our aim.
On 28th April, after a badminton session at the Sikh Temple in the afternoon, the five of us met and decided to form the club and name it there and then. The few names suggested were narrowed down to two - the Bharat Naujawan Sabha, proposed by myself, and the Nav Bharat Club, by Pritam Singh. Pritam’s proposal of Nav Bharat Club was unanimously accepted.
Thereafter, the drive we launched to recruit club members was met with success. Pledges for financial support were received from a number of businessmen. A draft constitution proposed for the Club, based on that of the Singapore Khalsa Association but modified to suit our purpose, was prepared.
On 10th June1951, an Ordinary General Meeting of 32 enrolled and “would be” members was held at the Sikh Temple. The draft constitution was proposed and accepted unanimously. The following were then elected in accordance with the constitution:-
Adjourning the meeting, Mr. B. Ditta thanked the founding members (by their names) for their tireless efforts in successfully establishing the Nav Bharat Club. He also thanked all those who attended the General Meeting. Tea and cakes were then served - courtesy of the Sikh Temple.
Over the years, the Club flourished and produced many fine hockey, badminton and squash players to represent it in the various local league competitions winning many laurels, particularly in hockey. I would therefore like to congratulate the Club and its members for their achievements and to wish them every success in the future.
President - Mr. B. Ditta
Vice President - Mr. Makhan Singh
Hon. Secretary - Mr. Udham Singh Dillon
Hon. Treasurer - Mr. Mohinder Singh Wasan
Chairman,Board of
Control, Games - (vacant - to be co-opted)
Social Convenor Mr. Pritam Singh
Hockey Convenor - Mr. Jangeer Singh
Badminton Convenor - Mr. Jagdish Verma
Committee Members - Mr. Daya Ram Mr. D. G. Welling