ADMITTING she has always had a heart for children, Alton woman Jennifer Marlow, who has just been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to vulnerable people, has, through her volunteering work, helped hundreds of youngsters going through stressful times.

For 18 years, she been the co-ordinator of the Child Contact Centre and Action for Children at Alton Methodist Church which, on the second and fourth Sunday each month, helps a divorced or separated parent to have a few play hours with their children.

They come to the centre after a court order has been issued over custody and for both the child and the parent the “play hours” they have there help to keep a strong bond between them.

Jennie is there to help, especially with the very young ones, and again, working with parents and children, she was on the steering committee of HomeStart Wey-Water before it was set up to cover the Alton and Bordon areas. Later, she was on its board of trustees.

She is also co-ordinator for Church Family Visitors and runs the Friday coffee morning at the Methodist Church where she is a preacher.

Born in Plymouth, Devon, Jennie trained as a nursery nurse and this gave her the opportunity, after she married husband Gerald, an Anglican organist, and moved to Alton in 1973, to work at the Chase Children’s Centre in Bordon for 10 years.

Jennie was also, for a time, one of the Herald team, working for the Post Dispatch and The Hampshire Voice. She later worked at Alton’s Tourist Information Office.

She has managed to combine her volunteer work with bringing up her two sons, David and Paul, and now has three grandchildren.

Jennie, who is in her late 60s, will receive her British Empire Medal from the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and has still to decide what to wear.

“But I do have a hat designed by the Queen’s milliner, Freddy Fox, so I might wear that!” she said.

It is possible the hat may well have a second outing as Jennie will be a guest at one of the Queen’s garden parties at Buckingham Palace this summer.

Hearing she had been awarded the British Empire Medal, Jennie is modest about her achievement.

“It was a total shock but I want to accept it on behalf of my charities rather than for myself,” she said.

As well as her family, friends and her church, who are “delighted and proud” of her, Jennie now has several followers as one of her sons put her award on Facebook.

“And he had 93 hits!” she said.

Farringdon woman Susan Ann Fifield is to receive the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to the community.

For this unassuming former librarian, the news has come as a complete and almost unbelievable surprise but, like a lot of modest folk who so readily give of their time for the pleasure derived from helping and supporting others, Miss Fifield has determined to overcome her natural diffidence to accept the award with pride, on behalf of the church and the village, and all those who have supported her in her voluntary work.

Speaking to the Alton Herald following the release of the 2018 Honours List on January 2, Miss Fifield said she was “overwhelmed and shocked” by the news.

“I enjoy doing what I do,” she said. “It is a real privilege and I am not looking for recognition. It is lovely to work with such great people who appreciate what I do, and it is lovely to work with the children.

“This is not only for me but for all the families and people that help me. It is for the church and the village as well.”

Recognised for her work in Farringdon, where she has lived all her life, Miss Fifield is an active member of All Saints’ Church. Having helped to start the Sunday School 35 years ago, she then took over running it and last year was responsible for the renaming to become the Sunday Club - a more modern and friendly version, attracting some “very enthusiastic children” who staged a Nativity before Christmas and will be “thrilled”, she said, with their leader’s gong.

Susan is also involved in running the monthly family service. Having started as a helper 17 years ago, she has been running this popular service with a team of supporters for the last 15 years and last year introduced the first pet service which was attended by a host of dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals and their owners.

In addition, she has served as a member of the parochial church council.

A mainstay of church and village life, Miss Fifield has also made her mark in Alton, taking early retirement from the library two years ago after 38 years of service, rising from library assistant to supervisor and then to assistant library manager at Alton Library where she still does some voluntary work and continues to contribute to the library service.

Miss Fifield is among 318 people from across the UK to be awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire in this year’s Honours List in recognition of meritorious civil service worthy of recognition by the Crown.

Determined to splash out on two new outfits to mark the occasion, she is set to receive her medal from the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire before attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace.