Mrs. Jean Willis

Hats off to Jean Willis - Lesley Bates talks to Fordingbridge's first mayor
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Hats and speeches go with the job - Jean is Fordingbridge's first mayor, completing a hat trick of firsts in local government.

She was the first woman to chair the town's parish council and, later, its town council.

When, earlier this year, it was proposed that the time was ripe to have a mayor for the first time ever, Jean was elected.

"It was put to a vote and I was voted in unanimously," she tells me.

"I was very, very flattered - it just goes to show you're never too old."

Not that age - she is 80 at the end of this year but looks at least ten years younger - is something that concerns her.

"Two things don't bother me in life: gender and age," she says briskly.
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Hats have become something of a trademark for Jean and she confesses to a collection of 40 and growing.

It was, she says, a conscious decision when she became mayor that wherever she went, she would wear a hat.

JEAN WILLIS, Deputy Mayor, Fordingbridge town council

Sergeant Jim Hennessey (left) of the combat camera team, cadet corporal Matthew Hales, deputy mayor Jean Willis and cadet corporal Siabhan Groves at the drill hall in Fordingbridge.
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Sergeant Jim Hennessey (left) of the combat camera team, cadet corporal Matthew Hales, deputy mayor Jean Willis and cadet corporal Siabhan Groves at the drill hall in Fordingbridge.
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FORDINGBRIDGE deputy mayor Jean Willis joined the army cadets last week for a glimpse of life on the frontline, as seen through the eyes of the Army's combat camera team.
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For Mrs Willis (82), who served as a bombardier in 1944, where she manned a gun site in Brussels, it was a chance to share stories and, as local Legion vice chairman, it was an opportunity to strengthen the bonds between past, existing and future soldiers.

PALM COAST -- During a hot fall afternoon four years ago, former Flagler Palm Coast football Coach Gene Willis was watching the Bulldog freshmen at work.

A player in green and white streaked down the sideline, opponents in desperate pursuit.The ball carrier wasn't caught.

Willis was a few weeks away from announcing his retirement, a poorly kept secret at the time.An observer casually nodded in the direction of the play and asked the coach if he was reconsidering his decision to hang it up.

"Thinking about it," Willis said with an eyebrow raised.

He wasn't the only one who was noticing he had a budding star on his hands.Marshwan Gilyard has been busy raising a lot of eyebrows in the past two years.

Although his high school career in football is done, Gilyard has left a gridiron legacy unmatched at the school.

No. 7 -- among the other numbers he wore -- wasn't the only reason for FPC's emergence from a football doormat to a playoff team that won 15 games in a two-year span.In fact, you could argue Gilyard probably wasn't the best football player on the team, but in game after game, he was the most dangerous Bulldog on the field.

He gained more than 2,000 yards in less than two years worth of action as FPC's No. 1 tailback.

The lights will be officially switched on' in time for Advent Sunday at a ceremony to be held around the Christmas Tree at 4.00 pm on Saturday 27th November by Mrs Jean Willis , Chairman of Fordingbridge Parish Council , with the backing of local choirs singing carols.

Fordingbridge Business Forum extends a warm welcome to all to come along and support the town.

Local business advisers expand their team.