Stonecutters Island Forum

The Forum

Posted by Jack on April 11, 2012, 15:05:48

Thanks Mike, The Forum is a great site although I have not visited for a while it is always good to get back and see messages from the old 'Fantasy Islanders'.
Thanks to this and 'Forces Reunited' I have managed to contact quite a few friends that I have made in the past, Pony Moore, Don Fisher and Chris Beavers are three examples. I met up with Don while in Cape Town a year or so ago and he and his wife came over to the house for lunch with Yvonne and me. I later met him in a pseudo English pub called 'The Royal Oak' for a pint or three in Table View, a suburb on the coast about 15 miles out of Cape Town across Table Bay.

After leaving the Navy I did go back to the Island on one occasion. I wrote to the O.I.C. in Tamar with a request to visit the place and was very pleased to receive a reply.
We were met at K.P.P. and conveyed to the Island where we were greeted by a C.P.O. with a Land Rover and taken on a sightseeing trip. It was great, sadly never to be repeated as it now is no longer an island and is, I believe, a sewage works site.
I did try to locate the place on a recent visit to Hong Kong without success.

Re: The Forum

Posted by Mike McNamara on April 19, 2012, 7:37:31, in reply to "The Forum"

Glad you came back and left your message, more and more people seem to be finding the site. Had a great email this week from another first time visitor. Also spoke with a friend who passed through HK last week, he was not over impressed with the way the place had changed.

It's always good to see people talking about the Island. Lots of fond memories for all.

Re: The Forum

Posted by Colin on April 29, 2012, 20:17:10, in reply to "Re: The Forum"

Interesting to see the last couple of messages.
For those who don't know .... Stonecutters Island is no longer an island as it was "joined" to Kowloon to form a container port, many years ago. Since then the Chinese navy have also constructed a port extending out from the area by the swimming pool and also near where East Pier was. A large sewage works was constructed on reclaimed land opposite the football field. More recently the East Tower of the new Stonecutters suspension bridge was erected on the west corner, around the area of the old MCTC. along with a massive elevated highway from this bridge over towards Kowloon. The bridge and highway is part of the motorway from H.K.Airport via a tunnel through Lantao island. You can ride a bus from Kowloon to the island, but the road is gated and you cannot freely walk any furthur. I haven't been back myself, but have obtained this info. from e-mails to various people over the years and from the internet and Google earth mapping. Be interesting to hear from anyone who has been, or may be planning to visit H.K. regards to All.

Re: The Forum

Posted by Mike McNamara on April 30, 2012, 7:10:42, in reply to "Re: The Forum"

Great post Colin. Yes it is amazing how much has changed over the years. As you say there is much that you can now see on the Web with various tools. If you use Street View on Google Maps, you can actually stand on the 'new' Bridge and look out over what was the East Pier end of the Island.

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Australia and stopped over in Hong Kong for two days on the way back. He is bringing some photos, but was unable to get very close to the Island. If any good, I'll post them.

Re: The Forum

Posted by Jack Carter on April 30, 2012, 22:55:05, in reply to "Re: The Forum"

On my last trip to Hong Kong and enroute to and from the airport Yvonne and I were in a limousine and as the walls on the bridge are quite high we were not able to see much, it would have been better to see the island if we had been on a bus, It is still called 'Stonecutters Island' and there is a signpost to that effect on the road to the airport.
Progress has not done much for Kowloon, it is not possible to see the horizon because of all the high rise flats which also keep any breeze away making it very hot and more humid than I remember it from days gone by. The street markets are in most cases still fun, the ones in Mong Kok (Ladies Markets) are pretty good.

Re: The Forum

Posted by Colin on May 1, 2012, 14:02:09, in reply to "Re: The Forum"

It was nice to see the two responses to my item. Hopefully this might instigate a run of info. Either for anyone wishing to visit H.K. or anyone who might still be interested in what is now history. I have also looked at Google street view as mentioned and it kept me quiet for quite awhile whilst panning round looking at this and that. Recently I purchased one of those slide and negative copiers and have been busy copying many coloured slides as well as black and white negatives onto the computer,and then a D.V.D. disk for furthur backup ( I did forward some pictures to you Mike a couple of years ago for the picture archive ) Couldn't believe how many pictures of the island I had, but then, we did live there for two years. Also somewhere in one of my stashed away boxes I even have a video recorded from a T.V. programme about the birds on Stonecutters. Unfortunatly I think it will be useless now we are changing to digital T.V. and the old magnetic recording tapes becoming unplayable. That's all for the moment, best wishes to All.

Hello to all who remember Les, Archina and Conrad North

Posted by ArchinaNorth North on May 7, 2012, 16:55:06, in reply to "The Forum"

Although Les and I are no longer together, I still have great memories of our time on the island. Will there e another get together soon? Conrad has said that he will drive and use the Internet too. Look forward to hearing from you.

ArchinaNorth xx

Re: The Forum

Posted by Mike McNamara on May 7, 2012, 19:20:30, in reply to "Re: The Forum"

Hi Colin,

Yes a good conversation going on. BTW your photos are still on the site. I have a question, what make of scanner/copier did you go for. I had one a few years ago, but it was very low resolution and prone to errors. I'm looking at a new one to work on my box collection of images/slides.

Re: Friends from Stonecutters Transmitting Station 1960-1962

Posted by Jack Carter on October 19, 2014, 21:38:04, in reply to "The Forum"

To those who knew 'Pony' Moore, sad to inform you that two years and a few days ago Pony died from a long illness. His widow, Gina wishes to pass on to all of Pony's friends her sincere thanks for their kind thoughts and messages.

Re: Hello to all who remember Les, Archina and Conrad North

Posted by ken scott on June 15, 2015, 21:53:54, in reply to "Hello to all who remember Les, Archina and Conrad North"

hello ken&pat scott we lived at east pier remember you &les well I met Conrad some time ago at new brighton rugby club

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