You may have seen him around our school grounds - he is often walking around carrying his cordless drill, and as he travels from task to task, teachers call out ‘Ken, can ya just… ', often shortened to “Ken ya just?” He is our go-to man for the many maintenance issues that arise around school, from caster wheels that fall off blackboards, to knocking up the storage shelves that we keep our shoes and belongings in outside class, to re-hanging doors and fixing leaky sinks, to building our new pergola to keep us out of the rain when we are waiting to be pick up at the Kiss-n-go. 

 

Ken recently installed the new range hood in the hall kitchen, and he remarked that if he had a penny for every time he had done this, he would be a rich man - because once upon a time, he specialised in selling and fitting kitchens. It was this chat that made me feel curious about other jobs that Ken has had up until he began his employment at Golden Hill Steiner School, and I thought it would be cool to share with our school community some of the things I learned.

Ken started out as a farmer in East Yorkshire, managing over 2000 head of sheep and pigs and cereal cropping for more than 15 years. He raised a daughter there, with his first wife, who came out to live in Western Australia when she grew up. After a marriage breakdown, he began a business selling and fitting kitchens. He then went to university to graduate with a Bachelor of Science - Honours as a clinical podiatrist, living and working in Bury St. Edmunds, a once medieval town in the middle of Suffolk. He then had the opportunity to move with his partner to the Pyrenees in France, where he did a complete renovation of a heritage home. Aside from the renovation, Ken became fluent in speaking French; in fact, when he speaks French, his Yorkshire accent is completely disguised even to the native French ear. He is a keen motorcyclist, riding through the Alps on summer weekends, and skiing in the winter. He loves hang gliding too – he was among the first cohort to have to be licensed to fly. It was a friend in the Pyrenees who first coined a term about Ken –“iláles mains d’or, aussi un couerr d’or” - ‘he has golden hands, and a golden heart’, talking about his warmth of spirit and the fact that he is good at most things he puts his hands to.

 

Just like many of us here have experienced, though, the Great Southern region of WA was calling him, and he put his English and French lives behind him to settle here alongside his beloved daughter and her family just three years ago. He is an owner builder again here, he has loved learning modern ballroom dancing, foxtrot, waltz, tango and quickstep! He loves taking his grandson on adventures, such as to the Avalon Airshow. He has survived a tiger snake bite, too! After a day tackling the tasks at hand, he untangles with a walk along his happy, meditative place – Cosy Corner beach.

 

So now you know why Ken makes his ‘to-do’ list seem like a piece of cake, and why when he walks past, he invites the ‘Ken ya just’ requests! We are honoured to have his golden hands and heart on our team here at Golden Hill.