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The Kuching H3
was founded by Harry “God Knows” Howell on 21 May 1963 in Kuching,
Borneo.
Harry started
Hashing with Mother Hash in 1958, when his employer transferred him
from Penang,
Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur (KL) in June of that year. After
hashing for about a year in KL he was sent back to Penang in 1959,
and then on to Singapore. One evening a handful of former KL
Hashmen met in Ian Cumming's house off
Braddell road, including
Chris Verity and Tommy Voice to discuss the possibility of starting
a hash club in
Singapore. Harry explained that "One of the lingering questions had been 'Where
can you run on Singapore Island?' -- until we tried! Run
number one was, I recall, straight up the golf course across Braddell road."
Another New Hash is Born . . .
Harry’s stay in Singapore was to be short lived, but good for the
future of the Hash House Harriers. He was next posted to
Kuching,
where he started the
Kuching Hash helped largely by the British army
who were there tackling
Soekarno's ’Confrontation’. According to
Harry, “The Kuching H3 originally ran on Monday, until the army said
they had a problem with the Brigadier's staff meeting that
afternoon, so without further ado we switched to Tuesday - which the Kuching
hash remains on to this day.”
After a few years in Kuching, Harry says “I ran with the
Kota Kinabalu Hash in 1968/69, until I ended my fifteen years with Bousteads, and came job-hunting in Sydney. Today I am proud of the
fact that one Monday I hashed in Sabah, and the next in Sydney. Changed careers, changed countries, but did not miss a Hash.”
Well done Harry!
Although Harry will soon receive his OBE (Over Bloody Eighty) next
February (2014), he says “I don't run any more but I still join my
mates every Monday night.”
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