Women in Business

Heritage, history & hot air balloons! Completely Bromsgrove chats to Jo Slade.

Bromsgrove is justly proud of its ancient Court 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 Court 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 supported 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 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!”

Working alongside her father David, a well-respected figure in the town owing to his contributions to the Bromsgrove Carnival, The Bromsgrove Society and Bromsgrove Court Leet, Jo found herself naturally drawn to these organisations. A Landmark Appeal fundraising event at Bromsgrove School held in conjunction with the Court Leet helped to develop that connection with an event which continues to be held, sadly falling victim to Covid this year.

Jo is keen to support the Arts in Bromsgrove and works with the Orchestra of St John to help promote their concerts, she’s a key member of the Keep Bromsgrove Beautiful group and has been the Vice Chairman of The Bromsgrove Society since 2015. Remarkably she still finds time for another passion, competition hot air ballooning! As the Chief Official for the British Hot Air Balloon Competitions Club, Jo has jetted all over the world. She has been part of the scoring team at World and European Championship events, working as a pilot observer or scorer.

Jo said: “This is the part of my life which gets me up at silly o’clock as the competition balloon flights take place at daybreak and the evening flight launches shortly before sunset.

“It’s a long day, but it is well worth it, the colourful scenes and international friendship is wonderful. I’ve been lucky to travel as far afield as Japan, America and, closer to home, many parts of Europe including Austria and Luxembourg.”

At the end of her chat with Completely Bromsgrove, Jo reflected on the events of 2020 and what the future may hold post-pandemic.

“Covid-19 has certainly flipped 1,000 years of history on its head,” she said.

“Most of our long-standing traditional events have had to move on-line, and sadly the latest fundraising project at St John’s has been put on hold. The option to apply for £1.2 million pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been withdrawn due to reallocation of funding to support the heritage sector during the pandemic. We’re having to look at everything with new eyes and reflect on priorities. Personally, I continue to approach the challenges with optimism and develop new ways of working. I am passionate about our town, it’s heritage and its community, and I am keen to support local initiatives as much as I can.”