Indefatigable film-maker Elaine Forsgate Marden turns her energies towards helping others

IT is about as tranquil as a sunny November morning gets in Hong Kong. There's a still blue sky, ideal temperature, a clear view out across the Lamma channel, and a cup of coffee is on the way.

Suddenly the sound of gunfire can be heard from the leafy verandah of Elaine Forsgate Marden's elegant home, which is set in its own grounds on the Peak. 'Don't worry,' she says, calmly munching a bagel. 'It's only the police.' The police? It sounds like a scene from Gunfight At The OK Corral.

'Oh yes, it's the firing range down at the training unit in Aberdeen,' she adds reassuringly. Well that's a relief. 'We often hear the police band up here too, in fact when I was stuck on how to end my film The Hong Kong Story, I heard the band playing and had a flash of inspiration. I realised they would be perfect for the final scene.'

She recounts how she hared down to the parade ground and told the startled musicians she needed to film them immediately. And amazingly, they waived the advance notice usually needed and granted her wish on the spot.

But then Elaine Forsgate Marden, wife of shipping director Anto, is not your average expatriate Peak wife. While her neighbours are booking tennis lessons and lamenting the difficulties of parking in Central, she's out exercising her considerable charisma and powers of persuasion.

The word 'can't' doesn't seem to exist in her vocabulary. Truly a human 'doing' rather than just 'being', she is the antithesis of those who seldom attempt anything, using the excuse of not having enough time or energy.

Whether it's scouring archives worldwide for her film projects, growing orchids, honing her fluent Cantonese or fund-raising for foreign domestic helpers, she has the courage of her convictions and just gets on and does it.