The LEBRF was most grateful to receive a generous bequest from the late Jean Kennard HLM who sadly passed away on the 9th December last year.
Jean was, for more than 30 years, Tower Captain at St Mary’s Iwerne Minster having learnt to ring there in 1980 shortly after she and her husband, Robin, moved to the village in 1979.
Although she was most closely associated with Iwerne Minster, she also rang regularly at Shroton, Blandford Forum and Bryanston, helping to support their up-and-coming bands. She was a stalwart member of the old North Dorset branch, serving as its secretary from 1991 to 2001. Her name features regularly in quarter peal records across the years and she rang two peals.
Jean’s commitment to ringing in the Iwerne benefice was hugely important to her, whether on Sundays for service ringing or at practice nights. In her later years she would very often volunteer to take the treble for a few touches and was always there as a steady member of the band.
Jean’s final ring was at Iwerne Minster on Sunday 22nd January 2023 where she hung up her rope for the last time but she still loved to hear the bells from “her” tower. Robin tells us that her election as an HLM several years ago made her very proud.
Her friends rang a quarter peal in her memory on the day of her funeral.
AW
