Jacqui Dodds

Profile

Jacqui Dodds

Living within the close confines of the village it is sometimes hard to remember that the parish extends far beyond the built up area we know as Melbourn. Places on the far flung boundaries of the parish tend to be forgotten, although the distributors of the Melbourn Magazine know these outposts only too well!

Hillside Poultry Farm on the A505 is one of these places on the borders of Hertfordshire but is very definitely in Melbourn and is the home of Jacqui and Peter Dodds. Peter has lived and reared chickens here for some 39 years, Jacque has lived there for 26 years – it is a second marriage for both of them, with four children between them.

Jacqui is now retired but all her life she has worked with figures. Denied the chance to go to university as a young girl after passing her A levels, initially she went to work in the Civil Service in London, but soon moved to working as a book keeper in an accountancy practice in Cheshunt. She thrived here and it wasn’t long before she was headhunted to move to another practice starting up in Ware. Here she was encouraged to study and qualify as a chartered accountant, which she did in 1976. She remained there for 14 years and became a partner – the first woman partner in this London based firm. We are talking about a time when it was quite unusual for a woman to succeed in the predominantly male field of accountancy. It was during this time that she met and married Peter (who was one of her clients) and had a son Robert, now in turn about to pass his accountancy exams with Price, Waterhouse. He is living in Wimbledon.

She started her own practice in 1983 in a Portakabin on the farm - eventually she was employing a staff of 4 She had always dealt with some farming clients which is quite a specialised branch of the business with all the tax and subsidy complications. On one very wet day she was sitting talking to a farmer about his tax problems but the farmer was gazing over her shoulder in a distracted fashion. ‘This weather isn’t doing my corn any good’ he said mournfully to which Jacqui replied ‘I should go and see a chiropodist!’ He, of course, was talking about his harvest! At this time she was very much involved in the Institute of Chartered Accountants who invited her to be the representative for small firms of General Practitioners. She served on the committee for some time before becoming President of the Beds, Bucks and Herts Society – the first lady president – at that time there was only one other lady ICA President in the whole of the country. This position involved a good deal of wining and dining and meeting other leaders in her field of expertise; Peter was at the same time deeply involved in the National Farmers Union so they led quite a busy life.

After 17 years, Watts, Knowles (now WKH) approached her with a merger deal and Jacqui saw this as a step towards winding down towards retirement. She remained with WKH for 7 years, eventually retiring in December 2006 About 11 years ago she started playing bowls with Peter and became very active in the Melbourn Bowls Club – firstly as Treasurer, then Chairman and now she is Secretary and in charge of fixtures. A naturally warm, friendly and outgoing person she has enjoyed this involvement in the village and has also joined the U3A. An avid reader all her life, she started the Alternative U3A Book Club and also belongs to the monthly walking group. She enjoys cooking and entertaining and for many years has been a keen flower arranger. (I immediately tried to enrol her on the All Saints Flower Rota – you do not have to be a churchgoer!) She had been at a class the morning I inter-

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viewed her and showed me a charming arrangement she had done, a winter arrangement making the most of a few flowers.

Peter has always been a poultry farmer – in the old days it was battery farming for egg production but for many years now he has farmed in an RSPCA approved Freedom for Food method. He no longer produces eggs, but instead rears pullets from 0 to 16 weeks, and he may at any time have between 30 and 35 thousand chicks all running around as nature intended – although for their own protection they are housed under cover, safe from foxes and bird flu! At 16 weeks he sells them on – sometimes a sale of 10,000 chicks and sometimes a sale of ten as domestic keeping of chickens becomes more and more popular. They are always brown hens – because brown hens lay brown eggs ! His son David is also in the business and deals with the transport of the birds, in specially adapted lorries to cause the least possible trauma to the birds.

The farm covers some 6 acres and is guarded by two large Alsatian dogs. The Dodds live in a charming bungalow with a nice garden (another of Jacqui’s hobbies) although she says that the invasion of rabbits is beginning to change her mind about the delights of gardening. On a clear day they can see the windmill at Chishill and there is sometimes a badger’s sett down the field so it is a very rural situation. She confesses that living on the A505 is a bit of a pain especially if the M11 is blocked and traffic gets diverted, although they are double glazed and the view from the back windows is a great compensation.

They have a time share in Fuerteventura in the Canaries and she now manages to persuade Peter to leave the farm long enough to enjoy holidays in places like New Zealand and Australia. Great theatre and film-goers, they frequently go to London to see a show and are also Friends of the Royal Academy, the National Portrait Gallery being a particular favourite. Jacqui is a great example of what women have achieved in the accountancy world despite the prejudices of her generation.

So the next time you head out towards the A505 past the last house in New Road, just remember that Melbourn extends a lot further than you realise! Mavis Howard