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JENNY
Side Party BEM
Died Not known Reported by AE(OL) on 20-Mar-09
JENNY BEM
Generations of sailors who visited Hong Kong will mourn the death
of Jenny. She was a much loved living legend who. for all the
colony's constant change, remained the same incomparable
institution for over half a century.
Much of her life was an enigma. However. the authors of her
twenty-seven Certificates of Service generally agreed that she was
born in a sampan in Causeway Bay in 1917. Her mother, Jenny One,
according to her one surviving Certificate of Service, which was
copied in 1946 from an older, much battered and largely illegible
document., 'provided serviceable sampans far the general use of
the Royal Navy, obtained sand. and. was useful for changing
money’. She brought up her two daughters to help her.
Behind her perpetual great gold-toothed grin Jenny complained;
“I vcIIy chocker. All time work in sampan. N0 learn to lead or
lite.” But what she lacked in education she made up more than a
hundredfold with her immense and impressive experience in ship
husbandry. her unfailing thoroughness and apparently inexhaustible
energy. her unquestionable loyalty and integrity, her infectious
enthusiasm and her innate cheerfulness.
Officially Jenny's Date of Volunteering was recorded as 1928. From
then until 1997, when the colony became a Special Administrative
Region of China and the Royal Navy moved out. she and her team of
tireless girls. who at one time numbered nearly three dozen,
unofficially served the Royal and Commonwealth Navies in Hong Kong
by cleaning and painting their ships. attending their buoy jumpcrs,
and, dressed in their best. waiting with grace and charm upon
their guests at cocktail parties. Captains and Executive Officers
would find fresh flowers in their cabins and newspapers delivered
daily. And many a departing officer received a generous gift as a
memento from Jenny. For all of this she steadfastly refused ever
to take any payment. Instead she and her Side Party earned their
keep selling soft drinks to the ships' companies and accepting any
item of scrap which could be found on board.
Jenny's huge collection of photographs - too big. she said. to be
put into books - she stored in a large envelope. They dated back
to the mid 20th century and showed her in the ships she so
faithfully served, with Buffers and Side Parties, and with
grateful officers. many of whom became distinguished admirals. In
two thick albums she proudly kept her letters of reference, all
without exception filled with praise and affection for her. One
was a commendation by the Duke of Edinburgh for her work in the
Royal Yacht during her visit to Hong Kong in 1959. She has a Long
Service and Good Conduct Medal presented to her in 1938 by the
captain of HMS DEVONSHIRE, and a bar engraved 'HMS LEANDER
1975’.
Most treasured of all Jenny's distinctions was the British Empire
Medal awarded her in the Hong Kong Civilian List of the Queen's
Birthday Honours in 1980 and with which she, formally named Mrs.
Ng Muk Kah, was invested by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray
MacLehose.
In later years Hong Kong was no longer visited by the great fleets
of battleships and cruisers which gave Jenny and her Side Party
their livelihood and she found it increasingly difficult to make
ends meet. Yet she stayed fit and always willing to undertake any
work available. To the end of the Royal Navy's presence in Hong
Kong there could be seen in the shadow of the towering Prince of
Wales building within the naval base, a small round figure in
traditional baggy black trousers and high-collared smock, with a
long pigtail and eternal smile who, regardless of time. remained
it seemed for ever – just Jenny.
Jenny died peacefully in Hong Kong on Wednesday 18th February
2009. She was 92 years old.
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