Born Jennifer Winnard, Jenny was the only child of Ethel and Jim, and the granddaughter of a Lancashire coal miner and a cotton mill worker. Her earliest memories are of moving into a post-war council house at Orrell Post and travelling on the bus with friends to Lamberhead Green Primary School and later Upholland Grammar School, (now Winstanley College). With a background of strong Methodist tradition, family and social life revolved around Loch Street and later Trinity Methodist Church on Pemberton, where Jenny’s dad was a youth club leader and her mum ran a lunch club and a women’s fellowship group.
As a mum of two young children and living in Ashton, Jenny started a playgroup and became very involved with the regional and national playgroup movement. Her daughters Clare and Beth now have their own daughters, Rebekah, Naomi and Evie; Jenny is a very proud mum and grandma and is delighted that all the family are living close by.
Jenny studied teacher training as a day student at Manchester University and her first job as a newly qualified teacher was at Ince CE Primary School. Further opportunities arose in Wigan schools in early years and primary posts and she completed a B.Ed (Hons) in-service, again at Manchester University. Early years education and integrated services were always Jenny’s main interest and she gained a headship at one of Salford’s groundbreaking nursery centres, offering early education and family support in a significantly disadvantaged area. Later, she moved on to an Education Adviser role for Lancashire County Council.
Andrew and Jenny were introduced to each other through mutual friends and they were married in 1988. Andrew is serving a second term of office as an Ashton Councillor and he is also retired from a career in higher education and as a JP. Both are involved with supporting the many local community activities in Ashton and also at St Thomas’ and St Luke’s Churches at Stubshaw Cross. Andrew is a governor at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh and Jenny is a school governor locally and at Wigan and Leigh College.