Heritage, history & hot air balloons! Completely Bromsgrove chats to Jo Slade.
B
romsgrove is justly proud of its ancient Cour t Leet, which was founded in 1199, and last year it entered an exciting new chapter in its history with the appointment of its first female bailiff. Jo Slade took on the role in November after being elected as Reeve 12 months earlier. She originally joined the Cour t as a member in 2013 as one of the first three women in the organisation, and her first role was Ale Taster. Being named Bailiff was a proud moment for Jo, who expressed her thanks and gratitude to the long list of women who had suppor ted the court throughout its 800 years in her acceptance speech, and fitting as she has long been a history and heritage enthusiast. Although she said she didn’t ever set out to make history – it is just how her life has developed. A former pupil of South Bromsgrove High School, Jo moved away from Worcestershire to study at Nottingham Trent University where she gained a BA Honours degree in Economics. After
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leaving university, she worked in Manchester in events and marketing until 2002 when she returned home to focus on setting up her own company, Every Eventuality PR and Marketing. Jo told Completely Bromsgrove: “One of my first challenges was the Landmark Appeal in 2003-4 when we raised £650,000 for the Grade I listed St John’s Church in the heart of Bromsgrove. “We were fortunate to obtain a large slice of the money from an English Heritage funding scheme specifically for listed churches, but the overall success of the Appeal was thanks to the generosity of the local community who supported fundraising events and undertook their own initiatives. We broke the large challenge into manageable chunks – an approach which proved to be highly successful. From a small acorn grew a full tree!”
