A Set of Four RHKP Constables Standing At Attention with Rifle & Bayonet, Hong Kong, All Our Yesterdays--four standing figures
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Item Number: HKY-S02
A Set of Four RHKP Constables Standing At Attention with Rifle & Bayonet, Hong Kong, All Our Yesterdays
The same thinking as above... What do you think...?
‘On Parade With The Royal Hong Kong Police’
In June 1977, I arrived, along with 22 other British recruits, at the gates of ‘The Royal Hong Kong Police Training School’ in Wong Chuk Hang near the fishing port of Aberdeen on the south coast of Hong Kong Island.
That was to be our home for the next eight months while being trained to be Probationary Inspectors in the RHKP.
All 23 of us were then joined by approximately 30 locally-recruited and promoted-from-the ranks Hong Kong lads and were then divided into three different squads of aspirants.
Also being trained alongside us were hundreds of other young Hong Kong men to be Police Constables.
As some of you already know, the RHKP was and still is an armed force in which all officers carry a side arm and are also trained in a number of other lethal weapons such as shotguns, rifles and submachine guns.
At that time, Hong Kong was still a British Colony (or Territory as some officials preferred) and the Police Force was organized along Paramilitary lines with much attention being placed on discipline and drill in a very British style and manner.
And so each day began with a brief morning parade before all of us went off to various classes teaching basic law… firearms training… hand-to-hand combat… and learning elementary ‘Cantonese’ (the local Chinese dialect) plus, of course, parade-ground drill which for most recruits was a whole new experience.
For those few of us like myself who had a previous military background, that posed few problems and, in fact, was a relatively pleasant and enjoyable break from the more tedious classroom lessons.
On some Saturday mornings, however, there would be a full-blown parade on the parade ground square where the most senior squads of recruits were practising for their ‘Passing-Out Parades’, which signalled their successful completion of all their long, eight months of training and their upcoming departure for different Police units all over Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and The New Territories.
These parades were quite spectacular and would be musically accompanied by the RHKP’s own military-style band and sometimes the Force’s own Pipes & Drums.
All of the young, soon-to-be Constables were lined up in their squads (about platoon-size) with a soon to be commissioned officer standing in front.
All the rank and file back in 1977, carried vintage Lee Enfield .303 rifles with bayonets attached. Everyone stood at ease before the Chief Drill & Musketry Instructor. In my day, Chief Inspector Willy Fullerton, a former Scots Guards sergeant major, bellowed out a series of commands that ordered different rifle positions to all those on parade… ‘Slope Arms’, ‘Order Arms’ and ‘Present Arms’, to name but a few. After completing each move to the Chief Drill & Musketry Inspector’s pleasure, there would then be a full ‘March Past’ which, if not perfect, would be repeated until ‘Willy’ was satisfied.
All in all it was quite a spectacle to watch and in even more spectacular to take part in.
Now today, many, many years later, times have changed and the British-style parades have long gone however a few traces remain.
A few months ago I was invited to a ‘Passing-Out Parade’ up at ‘Fan Ling’ in Hong Kong’s New Territories, this is the home of The Hong Kong Police’s P.T.U. (the Police Tactical Unit), the Force’s own ‘Riot Squad’.
This very disciplined and well-trained mobile unit carries out any number of special duties including crowd control… major disasters… civil disturbances… and a host of other public duties helping and assisting the local population and government.
At this particular parade, the military style today is definitely more in keeping with The People’s Republic of China. however. there was still the police band playing the theme from ‘Star Wars’ and even ‘The Great Escape’ finishing up with ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the all-new P.T.U. members marched off the parade ground plus they even had a squad of Police bagpipers playing too… That brought back more than a few memories.
That was to be our home for the next eight months while being trained to be Probationary Inspectors in the RHKP.
All 23 of us were then joined by approximately 30 locally-recruited and promoted-from-the ranks Hong Kong lads and were then divided into three different squads of aspirants.
Also being trained alongside us were hundreds of other young Hong Kong men to be Police Constables.
As some of you already know, the RHKP was and still is an armed force in which all officers carry a side arm and are also trained in a number of other lethal weapons such as shotguns, rifles and submachine guns.
At that time, Hong Kong was still a British Colony (or Territory as some officials preferred) and the Police Force was organized along Paramilitary lines with much attention being placed on discipline and drill in a very British style and manner.
And so each day began with a brief morning parade before all of us went off to various classes teaching basic law… firearms training… hand-to-hand combat… and learning elementary ‘Cantonese’ (the local Chinese dialect) plus, of course, parade-ground drill which for most recruits was a whole new experience.
For those few of us like myself who had a previous military background, that posed few problems and, in fact, was a relatively pleasant and enjoyable break from the more tedious classroom lessons.
On some Saturday mornings, however, there would be a full-blown parade on the parade ground square where the most senior squads of recruits were practising for their ‘Passing-Out Parades’, which signalled their successful completion of all their long, eight months of training and their upcoming departure for different Police units all over Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and The New Territories.
These parades were quite spectacular and would be musically accompanied by the RHKP’s own military-style band and sometimes the Force’s own Pipes & Drums.
All of the young, soon-to-be Constables were lined up in their squads (about platoon-size) with a soon to be commissioned officer standing in front.
All the rank and file back in 1977, carried vintage Lee Enfield .303 rifles with bayonets attached. Everyone stood at ease before the Chief Drill & Musketry Instructor. In my day, Chief Inspector Willy Fullerton, a former Scots Guards sergeant major, bellowed out a series of commands that ordered different rifle positions to all those on parade… ‘Slope Arms’, ‘Order Arms’ and ‘Present Arms’, to name but a few. After completing each move to the Chief Drill & Musketry Inspector’s pleasure, there would then be a full ‘March Past’ which, if not perfect, would be repeated until ‘Willy’ was satisfied.
All in all it was quite a spectacle to watch and in even more spectacular to take part in.
Now today, many, many years later, times have changed and the British-style parades have long gone however a few traces remain.
A few months ago I was invited to a ‘Passing-Out Parade’ up at ‘Fan Ling’ in Hong Kong’s New Territories, this is the home of The Hong Kong Police’s P.T.U. (the Police Tactical Unit), the Force’s own ‘Riot Squad’.
This very disciplined and well-trained mobile unit carries out any number of special duties including crowd control… major disasters… civil disturbances… and a host of other public duties helping and assisting the local population and government.
At this particular parade, the military style today is definitely more in keeping with The People’s Republic of China. however. there was still the police band playing the theme from ‘Star Wars’ and even ‘The Great Escape’ finishing up with ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the all-new P.T.U. members marched off the parade ground plus they even had a squad of Police bagpipers playing too… That brought back more than a few memories.
Due to be released in MAY 2026.
