Mrs Nelly Jacobs

CLERK TO BOURNE TOWN COUNCIL 2000-15

A BREATH OF SWISS AIR ON BOURNE TOWN COUNCIL

by Judy Smith (town councillor)

ON FIRST CONTACT with Nelly you realise that you are speaking to someone with an excellent overview of people's needs and expectations, a good sense of humour and someone who is undaunted by any task set before her. A lady with great commitment to all the works she undertakes which covers a very wide range of subjects.
Nelly was born and grew up in Switzerland and received her education there. In 1972 she came to England as an au pair with the aim of improving her language skills. When she returned to Switzerland in the spring of 1973 she had already met Jake who was serving in the Parachute Regiment in the Royal Air Force. Jake had postings in England, Germany and Singapore and Nelly and Jake continued to meet in England and Germany and have holidays together. Eventually in April 1975 they married in a very snowy Switzerland, and from the sublime to the ridiculous, they went out to live in Singapore until the end of December 1975. Returning to England, they had a posting near Bath where two of their children were born. There then followed a posting to the RAF base near Leighton Buzzard and during this time Jake had to spend some time away from base and became involved with tele-communications and so had to work in Norway and Nelly spent some time with the children back home in Switzerland. Then along came Sabrina, baby No 3. In the winter of 1982, the family left Leighton Buzzard for Germany where they very much enjoyed the freedom of travel around Europe and especially easy access to Switzerland and Nelly's family.
On returning to the UK in 1985, they found that Jake was away most of the time and Nelly says that she almost felt like a single parent and by the time her eldest child was ready for secondary education she realised he had already attended three different primary schools and Nelly and Jake felt that this was not good. It was not the ideal way for their children's education. They wanted more stability for them and decided that the family ought to try to settle somewhere.
The thought of sending the children to boarding school never entered the equation and lo and behold they looked at a town called Bourne. The house prices were right, the schooling appeared to be very good and there were clubs and activities for the children to be involved in within walking distance from home. Eventually cycles were purchased so there were plenty of cycle tours to be involved in.
One of Nelly's first jobs in Bourne was to serve on the cheese stall in Bourne market when it was on West Street. From there she moved on to the Nationwide Building Society in North Street but that work created a few problems because of school holidays, so when a part time job at the Robert Manning School was advertised, Nelly applied and was the successful candidate. She worked there for four and a half years and then had a feeling that she would appreciate a change of children's age group and was successful in obtaining a placement at the Abbey Road Primary School from April 1993 to the end of June 2000 when she became the clerk to Bourne Town Council, taking on a great deal of responsibility. Nelly very quickly adapted to her new role and is very adept in researching the law and civic administration. She very quickly has to handle any information required by council to make members achieve their conclusions on any agenda items however controversial they may be.
Nelly was very pleased to tell me about the educational system working in Switzerland where both day and evening classes are run on a sort of apprenticeship scheme. These are incorporated into their work schedule and at the end students receive diplomas and the subjects studied with their work include law, politics, accountancy, foreign languages and business studies and management. Some of Nelly's fellow students have gone on to be ambassadors for Switzerland and heads of international companies and indeed clerk to Bourne Town Council.
Nelly is held in very high regard by officers of the district and county councils and her pleasing personality stands her in good stead when she is dealing with council business. Her main interest is her family. She now has four grandchildren and a fifth on the way and she and Jake are very devoted parents and grandparents, always ready to lend a helping hand whenever possible. After the family Nelly's interests are skiing (which makes me feel very envious), music, cooking, socialising and reading. Naturally her connections to Switzerland are still very strong - her mother still resides there with a large extended family. Nelly tries to visit twice a year and sometimes there is a family reunion in another country. All of Nelly and Jake's children have dual nationality.
Nelly finds Bourne a very friendly town and although she says they originally came to stay until the children had completed their secondary education, they are well settled here and have made some very good friends and contacts and are very much part of the Bourne scene. So Nelly and Jake, thank you for choosing Bourne and for all the hard work, effort and commitment you have both given to our community.

NOTE: Reproduced from the Bourne Parish magazine for October 2009