Blarney Stone .

My apologies for the very poor definition of these next photographs.  I have scanned them from the very small images in Ken's autobiography that I helped him to write some years ago.  As I never visited the property I do not know how large it had been, but it certainly seems to have been a large house when built in pre-war days. This view is looking to the North with the back of the ruined wing on the left overlooking the sea towards Lantau. Ken wrote that when he and Olga first saw it they asked the owner, a Doctor Thomas, who lived in a house below the Blarney Stone grounds, if they could lease it if they renovated one wing. This was agreed and they lived there from about 1957 until their move to Melbourne in 1965.  During all those years, Ken and Olga employed an amah called Ah King, who became a good friend.  They took out an insurance policy for her and, when they moved to Melbourne, Ah King had enough money to buy a small apartment.  Ken was always very pleased that they had been able to look to Ah King's future security.  A final note on the Blarney Stone is that Ken wrote that when they moved out, the daughter of Sir Robert Black, the Governor, asked if she could take over the lease.  This was agreed and Ken understood that she lived there until the handover in 1997 when she returned to the U.K.. (Andrew S)