Tower and Town, March 2020

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Jenny Atkins

Many Marlborough people will know Jenny Atkins as the dedicated resourceful Savernake Hospital Night Nurse who, for twenty years from 1982 onwards, administered to the sick and injured. Marlborough born and bred, a Wiltshire lass, Jenny decided in 1971, aged 20, to follow in her sister’s footsteps, completing a Nursing Training at Guy’s Hospital, London. “A strong desire to put things right” was her main motivation.

A patient arriving poorly and then eventually discharged well and fit gave Jenny immense satisfaction. Observing patients over the years taught Jenny that those with a positive attitude to life improved more quickly than others. These patients insisted, when able, on doing small things for themselves, saying they wanted to get home as soon as possible to friends and family and, in particular, to hobbies and to the many skills that gave them fulfilment and self-esteem.

When a child during the late 50’s and 60’s, Jenny and her friends learned to make their own clothes, to garden and to cook. Many turned their hands to crochet, knitting, pickling, baking and jam making. Likewise, male friends could turn their hands to a myriad of skills, including decorating, wiring, carpentry, mending cars and machines. “It was the norm to be fairly capable and independent,” she told me.

Jenny worries that the present generation are no longer taught, either in or out of school, to make things with their hands. Sadly, even the Scout movement has dwindled. “Too much emphasis is put on the intellect. Hours are now spent on mobile phones and social media which waters down our sense of independence and eats up time that could be spent on skills encouraging self-worth,” she adds. She agrees with Robert Twigger when he says in his book Micromastery that “we need to create; not just consume.”

After her retirement from Nursing, Jenny joined The Wiltshire Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers in Steeple Ashton (www.westwilts-communityweb.com), where she learned to make lovely finely woven fabrics, as well as durable woven floor rugs. Local stained glass classes and making mosaic tops for tables has also provided further tactile satisfaction. ‘The Practical Book of Woodworking’ was her guide for making a set of wooden shelves because she loves the smell and touch of wood. And she was proud to achieve a near perfect mortise and tenon joint. She continues to sew, to bake and to make jams.

But one of her greatest loves is her allotment on Elcot Lane. “I like to be outside more than inside”, said Jenny, so “when the spring arrives, I am off to dig and plant and watch my vegetables pop up out of the soil. When I have time, I stroll between the beds to learn from my allotment friends’ ideas! We support and help each other.”

Reading and travelling to America, Europe, even to China are also on her Polymathic list of achievements. She and her husband, Geoff, are presently passing on their knowledge, including trainsets, to their grandchildren, whom they hope will gain the same contentment and satisfaction from life as they have.

Lucinda Hall