My friend Joan Jenkins, who has died aged 79, first developed an interest in politics when she was a teenager. Always one to fight against inequality and injustice, she started attending political hustings, heckling from the back, and incurring her father’s wrath for embarrassing the family.
Later, raising a family of her own in Old Buckenham, Norfolk, Joan immersed herself in the local politics of village and community life. She became secretary to the parish council (and was prominent in raising funds to replace the dilapidated village hall with a building that was the envy of many larger villages), then executive officer for the Norfolk County Association of Parish and Town Councils and later the deputy director of Norfolk Rural Community Council. She was a much respected and valued magistrate, serving for many years at Thetford. She also held notable positions in numerous other organisations where her enthusiasm, knowledge and dedication were widely recognised.
Daughter of Susie (nee Tansley) and James Reid, Joan was born in Gillingham, Kent. When the second world war began, the danger from bombing meant she was evacuated to Devon. Her father, a captain in the Royal Marines, returned safely after wartime service, but the family home had not fared well and they moved to Gravesend, where he retrained as a teacher. Joan went to Gravesend grammar school for girls, where she became head girl.
She met her future husband, Tony Jenkins, in 1949 while singing in the local church choir. Their university years kept them apart (Tony studied geography at Oxford and Joan history at Durham), but they married in Gravesend in 1959. Joan completed a teaching diploma in London and taught history at Folkestone grammar school until Tony’s job took them to Birmingham, and later, with their two young sons, Harry and Adam, in 1974 to Norfolk.
Joan enjoyed cooking family meals, which were usually accompanied with a lively debate about something topical. The family had at least six daily papers delivered, which probably sparked Joan’s keen interest in recycling. She managed to fill the village hall recycling container almost singlehanded. She and I often wrote letters to the editor of the Guardian, having a friendly competition between us that aimed to get the opinions of Old Buckenham people in front of a wide audience. The subjects of Joan’s letters ranged from why the children of diplomats had to be educated at the more expensive boarding schools, to the joys of a halfpenny “bag of bits” that she experienced as an evacuee in Devon during the 1940s or who on earth had decided to put best-before dates on toilet rolls.
Joan gradually became less mobile and hated not being able to put others first. Tony’s death in 2013 was a shock to her. She is survived by Harry and Adam, her granddaughter, Holly, and her sister, Eileen.
