Whilst these facts are correct, they do not do justice to the dedication and hard work that Anne gave freely and willingly to the Association. Without Anne it is quite likely the Association would have folded or at best just a few stalwarts meeting every one or two years.
DGSA members should be grateful for her work behind the scenes as the ‘Hon Sec’ arranging the annual reunion, the Foundation Day service, the readers of the lessons, the person giving the address, those who would pass the offertory plate around, the sending out of invitations to the reunion, the management of the membership register, the cutting up of the paper table cloths, ensuring members’ name tags were correct and available on arrival, sufficient tables and chairs were in place with floral centre pieces on each of the tables, organising raffle ticket sellers, encouraging and guiding those members responsible for the 50 year reunion celebration. The list goes on!
Yes, she had a committee to support her, which she welcomed into her home at Blaby for their meetings. She always ensured that there were plenty of chocolate biscuits on the table and tea or coffee to wash them down. With her wealth of experience, she was able to prompt and guide the committee members thus ensuring that the reunion went off smoothly and was a success. Woe betide you at the committee meeting, following the reunion, if she felt that something you were responsible for had not been up to her expectations.
Anne Jones (nee Coghlan)
1944 -
It’s fair to say that Anne was the much loved and respected matriarch of the Dixie Grammar School Association. Anne was one of the 30 founding members of the newly formed DGSA who met for the first time in 1984. She was the Secretary of the Association from 2002 until 2016 and was its Chairman for four years from 2002 through to 2006.
Outside of the DGSA Anne had a full and varied social life. She was a dedicated follower of the Leicester Lions Speedway Team, a member of four drama and operatic societies, an avid ballroom dancer, she wrote lyrics and composed music for two of the Cosby Drama group’s pantomimes, she established a fancy dress business, making all of the costumes, she enjoyed her twenty years as a member of the Public Speaking Club, and she served as a District Councillor on the Blaby District Council.
Anne was a joy to work with, her ready smile and quick wit will always be remembered. I had lunch with her in her new home in Glenhills Court. She was using a mobility scooter and was happy to go full tilt along the corridors, doing wheelies around corners. When entering the lift, it was full throttle forward, in the safe knowledge that the doors on the other side of the lift were strong enough to stop her if she didn’t brake in time!
The last time I saw her was in LOROS where she was recovering from fracturing her hip for the first time. When I arrived, she was editing the local Conservative Branch newsletter. Although she was obviously in some discomfort she made me very welcome and we spent a couple of hours in conversation which ranged from Brexit and how much she welcomed Boris Johnson, to the circumstances of her fall in the toilet, which resulted in her breaking her hip, and with some hilarity she recounted how she lay on the floor unable to raise the alarm and how the call of nature just had to be answered! Her cheeky smile and twinkling eyes will be the memories of her that I will always treasure. Anne was truly a gallant spirit who it was my privilege to have known and to have been able to count as a friend. Peter Loseby.
I’m sure that speaks for all of us who worked with her. Walter Baynes.
