Parish Council Profile - Mary Jo Darrah
Mary Jo Darrah first came to Saddler’s Cottage as a newly wed in 1959, when her husband Graham’s work as a Forestry Consultant brought him to the area. At the time, it was seen by Mary Jo and Graham as a temporary move, however 44 years later they are still here!
Since she graduated from St Hugh’s College, Oxford with a degree in History, Mary Jo’s career has spanned many years of teaching. Prior to her marriage, she taught for a year at Chislehurst Grammar School for Girls, however, following her move to Longparish, she temporarily gave up teaching to have and look after her four children.
All four children attended Longparish Primary School followed by Testbourne Community School. It is no wonder, therefore, that Mary Jo was a school Governor at Longparish Primary from 1970 – 1996, and Chair from 1993-6. With her children requiring slightly less attention, Mary Jo returned to teaching in 1971 and eventually became Head of History at Hill College in Southampton, where she was also a staff governor. In 1983 Mary Jo found her ideal job as Head of History at Peter Symonds’ Sixth Form College, where she stayed until she took early retirement in 1993. By this time, Mary Jo’s grandchildren had begun to arrive and she now has seven of them. She likes to spend time with them, when she isn’t cultivating their own beautiful garden, which she loves. .
Mary Jo’s first encounter with the Parish Council was in 1963 when she attended Civil Defence Training in the village. Then, as her own family was growing up, she decided that the village needed a playground, and not being the sort of person to let others do the campaigning on her behalf, Mary Jo attended an Annual Parish Meeting to put her case forward. As a result, she was co-opted as a member in 1969, and, with others, succeeded in establishing the playground in 1972, thanks to Captain Wills’ generous lease of land. Also, in 1969, Mary Jo helped to start up and run the local playgroup, which has evolved since that time and is very successful.
Early on in her career as a Parish Councillor, she had the opportunity to expand her knowledge of local history when the Parish Council was involved in registering common land for the Common’s Registration Act. Mary Jo took on the task of searching the archives to ensure that all appropriate land was registered. Since this time, her interest in local historical matters has grown and Mary Jo was responsible for researching and writing much of the “Village Handbook”.
Mary Jo has always been an active member of the Parish Council, and was Chair for 14 years from 1983 to 1997. She has a particular interest in footpaths and can often be seen walking the village footpaths, not just for pleasure, but also to ensure that any relevant issues are reported to the Parish Council and solved. More recently, she took on the job of completing the Village Design Statement and people who have visited the Longparish web site will know how much work has been involved in this task.
Mary Jo hasn’t quite achieved the long service record for her 34 years service on the Parish Council, (John Driver was on for 36 years), but those years she has put in have served the village well and following her retirement from the Council, she intends to continue her historical research on the village for the benefit of all who live here. We wish her well and await the sequel to the Village Handbook. Liz Bourne
Resource Building for Voluntary Groups in Test Valley
Test Valley Community Services have been awarded a grant from the Community Fund to work with groups in Test Valley to increase their capacity and effectiveness. In November 2002 two appointments were made. Greg Alexander (Resource Manager) and Tina Watermen-Roberts (Administrator) will be based in Romsey but will cover the whole of Test Valley. Greg has worked with TVCS for two years and has built up experience with voluntary groups and funding. Tina has just moved to TVCS after some years working in the education sector.
TVCS are now keen to work with Community Groups, local business and statutory agencies to implement activity outlined in the terms of the grant by the Community Fund. The main objectives are to:
• Make effective and sustainable links between small voluntary groups and larger organisations
• Identify sources of funding for voluntary groups
• Develop relationships between the business and voluntary sector
• Recruit volunteers in rural areas to work with new and established groups
• Develop a database of local resources (activities, venues etc.)
If your group would like to get involved with this work or you are interested in forming a new community based group please contact Greg or Tina on 01794 519998 or email: romsey@tvcs.org.uk . We would be happy to visit your group to discuss any requirements or projects.