I can’t believe that I’m standing here today at Jennie’s funeral service. Jennie was one of the strongest characters I’ve ever known and I honestly thought she would outlive most of us here today. I know that Kathrine, Jennie’s only child, is still shocked and we feel for her while she sits with us here. One of Jennie’s fellow panel members on Mental Health Tribunals described her as “feisty”. That’s probably how all of us who knew Jennie think of her. Fierce in the defence of what she thought was right, tenacious when representing people who she believed were being treated unfairly, and a formidable opponent of unjust treatment. But we’ve all seen the other side of Jennie too. While she was a private person whose practical, northern upbringing was a source of pride, she was also a very caring and loving mother, family supporter, friend and colleague. Definitely not someone who could be sweet-talked into anything, very honest in her appraisal of right and wrong, but never known to turn away anyone in need of help, support and advice. Jennie was born in Verden, in Germany, while her father, Bill Slack, was in the British Army, but she was back at the family home in Sheffield by the time she went to school. While Jennie was growing up her mother, Mary, was a bus conductress and her father was a Tax Inspector. She had two brothers, David and Michael. David’s children, Lizzie, Nick and Iain, were Jennie’s niece and nephews. I know they will all miss her. After Junior School, Jennie attended King Egbert’s School for Girls and then went to Sheffield Polytechnic to study Hotel and Catering Management before joining the National Health Service. By the late 1970s she had risen to the position of District Domestic Services Manager for the whole of the Sheffield District, so her training was obviously helping her career take off. When these services were outsourced in the late 70s Jennie left the NHS and moved to London to join one of the service providers. From that time Jennie lived and worked in London, a city she grew to love and in which she took enormous interest. As always, she wanted to serve the community and do what’s right for the public. That’s perhaps shown best by two examples from 1983 and 1984. In 1983, one of the facilities for which Jennie was responsible for environmental cleaning was Barking District Hospital. During a 52 week period the hospital was picketed by striking workers. Every single day throughout that period, Jennie transported a team of cleaners into the hospital to ensure the standards of cleanliness were met and patients’ welfare protected. That showed dedication and community service beyond reasonable expectation. It was just after that Jennie decided to join the City of London Police, and I’ll speak more about that in just a minute. Both these events show her early drive to serve the public as best she could, and that continued through the rest of her life. Jennie’s career in Environmental Cleaning continued very successfully. As she worked her way up the management chain in the industry she was always looking to contribute more. By 1981 she had been admitted to the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners and was a full member by 1987. She was made a Court Assistant of the Livery Company in 2009. She remained a very active, and highly-respected participant in the Company’s affairs right up to the point where she became ill. Jennie then made a career change in the late 1990s and set up her own consulting company, specializing in Human Resource management. She focused on providing industrial relations and conflict resolution advice to companies in the cleaning and support services industries. She also agreed to act as a Panel Member on Industrial and Mental Health Tribunals, and made a substantial contribution on both. A full time judge from the Mental Health jurisdiction is here with us today and he said of working with Jennie: “I sat with her several times and was always struck by her sense of fair play. She seemed to have an innate sense of what was right. She was feisty and fiercely independent of mind - a great quality in any judicial office holder. She would give me her view and although she we usually agreed she was not frightened to tell me when she did not!. She also had a real sense of empathy towards those less fortunate than she was. Her commitment to public service seemed all encompassing and she gave of her time almost without thought. She often mentioned her work as a special with the greatest pride. She will be very much missed. I can’t think of a better and more accurate tribute and I have to say it parallels my experience of working with Jennie in the Special Constabulary. Jennie’s commitment to serving the public is perhaps best shown by her work in the Special Constabulary. Jennie was the longest-serving Special in the City of London Police, having twenty-nine and a half years’ service. She was a Special Superintendent and a hugely respected member of the senior management team. Being an active volunteer can be demanding. Being a senior officer in the Special Constabulary is more demanding and harder work than most people know. Jennie played her role superbly. Not only was she the conscience of our management team but she was our HR advisor, our mentor, our font of knowledge of the history of the organization from the point she joined, and the person who said “behave, boys” when her male colleagues were getting into the occasional debate. Jennie did operational duty every single week that she was in London. She found her specialist niche in the Police Control Room just round the corner at our HQ in Wood Street. Jennie had to take two weeks holiday to attend a training course for her role there, and broke new ground by having the Met agree to train a Special in control room systems for what we believe to be the first time – breaking new ground was a specialism of Jennie! She made a big impact in the Control Room and her colleagues and friends from there are with us today. Jennie loved the City of London Police and the Special Constabulary. I can’t think of a more fitting tribute than to have the Force flag on her coffin along with her uniform hat and her medal. We will all miss her but she would be proud to see how we are honouring her today.