A MUTUAL love of ballet has sparked a firm friendship between First Lady Lavender Patten and former Royal Ballet dancer Flora Cheong-Leen.
Whenever we bump into beautiful Flora these days it seems she's either coming back from tea at Government House or just dashing off to the colonial pile.
She was daintily raising a china cup there again two days ago, although this time Flora took along 30 teenage members of the Hongkong Ballet Group (wonder whether Lavender was hoping they might be able to inspire daughter Alice to take up the agile danceform?).
Unfortunately, the skies suddenly opened up causing them to grab whatever sandwiches and chocolate bickies they could and dash indoors - much to the joy of the visiting kids, who had not expected to have the run of the white-washed mansion.
Flora said: ''Mrs Patten is our patron and so she invited the kids around, five of whom are Dame Margot Fonteyn Scholarship students.'' These are busy times for Flora, who has just been recruited by the Chinese Government to co-ordinate and choreograph the Asian Model Contest, which will be the highlight of the Asian Fashion Festival at Dalian in September.
''Over the next few weeks I have to audition potential contestants from Hongkong, Taiwan and all over China,'' explained Flora. ''After which I have to put them through their paces.