r
I\ew skipper atthe helm
She has to eat, however,
includes stringing for th e augnst Da,ily
Elected Lrnopposed, Diar-re Storrrront kras l>ecorrre tLre FCC's second N\¡on-r.a-n 1>resident. I(erzin Sinclair profiles a trornetos/n corresponderrt
hen she graduated from London University with an honours degree in anthropology in 1980, 2l-year-old Diane Stormont got combination birthday and graduation present from her parents, a ticket to Hong Kong. She wanted to come home. Alrhough she had been taken to England as a girl to a
for-the British Council before landing
in1,982; I owed a lot of people a lot
a proof-reading job with Emphasis. She did what none of the journalists wanted to do, compiling the air freight section and other routine coverage, and "this being Hong Kong" within six
drinks, she smiles.
of
Stormont applied to Reuters without luck - "Go away,little girl," she remembers with a laugh - but got a reporting job on what was then Unicom News. There was
driver riots which paralysed the city. For lwo years, she did the demand ing shipping
where the news was and Diane Stormont had a total
beat af the Soutb Cbina Morning Post.
a
Getting here was the
Someone at Reuters decided the "little girl" had
easy part. Achieving her
grown up. She started at the
journalist.
Richburg's special membership
Those web pages (http'/
desperately keen to see under-utilised space turned into profit centres. She flicks throughletters advocating special memberships at reduced rates which restrict use to the bottom bar LaÍe at night; it's a matfeÍ that needs to be
www.callinghongkong.com) are
discussed
packed with brightþ written historical, anecdotal and factual aspects of all
money can be made. A sudden drop in members after
the townwhere she grewup
1993 as deputybureau chief. She was bureau chief when
able to quit on a high note. In recent weeks the usual torrent
the transition of sovereignly took place and a few months
of complaint has been reduced to a trickle, thanks to two excellent menus for the Main Bar and the Dining Room,
in considerable comfort as a 'Jardines' brat." Her father, Captain John Stormont, was a merchant navy man who
later, she resigned from the
dropped anchor and came
global news agency \øhy?
rVhygive up a plum jobwith a huge organisation where she had proven her value? Stormont shrugs over
ashore as a land-based marine superintendent of Steam
Navigation Company Fleet. È NØhen she return".l, S
well- .5 worn trail of other /oung I a. comþa.ct laptop, cntlnertt and mobile pbone in ber hopefuls into the grimy backpøck, ønd. a contact book crammed witb two d.ecad.es of corridors of Chungking Stormont followed the
THI C0RRf,SPOI|I¡ENT Mav 1998
committee attracted new members and
has great admiration for predecessor Keith Richburg and steps he has taken to ensure a solid ftnancial basis. She
kept numbers reasonably stable.
thinks more can be done.
to examine how
She's
much
"The Club must be financially viable," she says. Her main task as President, along with keeping alive the vibrant string of luncheon speakers
and other professional events, will be to boost income. Maybe she should list FCC
membership options amongthe other
items she. displays in
her
hongkongcalling.com page.
@
R.olrirr l-S-rrratrr- reflects on tris tenure s¡itkr thre food and Ì>erterage corrrrrrittee and casts a cttlirl.a.ry e>re o\zer thte latest rraenl-r
three years in Korea and returned to Hong Kong in
would be easier to get a start on a magazine rather than a neq/spaper," she explains. She survived by working
on the financial horizons. Stormont
A rlnratter of taste convenor of the committee responsible for the club's food and beverage operations it is nice to be
Then she started thumbing through the yellow pages. "I felt it
dues. Only active promotional work
the surface, but there are storm clouds
fter two years as convenor or co-
cfazy.
is
by former FCC president Keith
January, 1987, later spent
contctcts,
For the Club's future, she
transition, could have led to a worrying disappearance of a swag of monthly
worried. Finances may look good on
news organisation in
Mansions. Three days later she was well-settled into the home of family friends at The Peak. She wasn't
else
Telegrapb, a somewhat eclectic but exciting journal in Silicon Valley that mixes high-tech with venture capItaI, and developing her own stafiling new web site on the Internetwhich guides diners, explorers and new arrivals in Hong Kong. This latest electronic wizardry is also her hobby (along with tae kwon do and badminton) and has potential to be a major profit centre if she can findtime to sell supportive advertising.
little longer. Today, the newly elected President of the FCC smiles as she recalls of her return to a
the Indo-China
of Hong Kong life; what
teeth on the first talks on the
Hong Kong handover, the historic dollar peg and the short lived butworrying taxi
school, she still felt intensely that Hong Kong was where she belonged. Besides, that's
ambition took
sides
would you expect?
plenty to cover. She cut her
study at a girls' gfammar
determination to be
andwork
now mixes an exciting brew that
Diane Stormont is a mobile neusroom
months was depury editor. She was on the way.
It didn't take her-long to find her wayto the FCC. Herfirst editor, Derek A.C.Davies, took hel there for a drink aftel her job inteliew. "I was mightily impressed," she recalls. She joined as soon as she could afford the entry fee,
her Carlsberg. Basically, she had done her 10 years with
Reuters, covered
the
handover of hometown Hong Kong - which had
been a growing complrlsion foryears - and sought something else. Now she focuses Iargely on the Club and how to make what she sees as necessary surwival changes. Reaching
into her father's vocabulary as a seafaring-man, she wants to keep the ship afloat, buoyant and on a sfeady course.
devised by Chef Stephen 'Warren. These have increased the range of choice and quality o f b o d av allable at the FCC while holding prices at the same level, which in these difficult times, believe me, is no small achievement.
After a year of working in the kitchen andtalking to members with a great deal more patience than I am now able to muster about their likes
and dislikes, he has come up with menus which reflect not only his own ideas and creativily but also the tastes of members, while being realistically
geared to the kitchen's ability to produce. The Main Bar menu is now well established, and represents a template
which with occasional fine tuning should last us for quite a while. The
would have been perfectly happy to
an upstairs menu which is truly a piece
help, but this is a democracy, so there it still is. Much else has changed. The days when one took guests upstairs at the
de resistance. Being new, for me this menu
feeling of impending disaster
favourable reception it got, I think, gave him a boost which is reflected in
club with an air of apology and
is
full
of still unsampled treats, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the chicken Iiver parfait, the wild mushroom tortellini, the pot roasted quail, and the breast of chicken. In fact I have yet to order a dud.
Most of the credit for this
a
thankfully are goîe.'Word has got out about the improvements and we now have a restaurant non members are more than happy to be invited to. Furthermore, notwithstanding the
convictions of the small number of grumblers who vividly remember
managed to achieve major
paying slightly less for something a bit similar when they lasl ate out in Lan Kwai Fong five years ago, it offers excellent value for money.
to the members of the outgoing
upstairs menu please makea point of doing so. If you have, and you liked it, please tell Stephen and spread the
achievement goes to Stephen and his team in the kitchen, and to the staff of
the main dining room who have
improvements in speed of delivery and do it with a smile. I would also however like to say a quick thank you
committee for some thoughtful and useful input. You can also thank them for the survival of the rockfish soup. Stephen would have liked to consign this to the dustbin of history a year ago, and I
If you haven't yet tried the new
word. If you didn't, and want to tell me about it, I would be most grateful if you would note that by the time this is published I will no longer be in office.
@ May 1998 Tf,E C0RRDSP0tllEtT