About Jenny

Hello my name is Jenny Scott but some people may remember me as Jenny Rawson, as I grew up in Saxilby, living at the shop on the High Street, Grayson’s Stores, later becoming the post office. The village was much smaller in the late 1940s-50s, before all the development took place, and it felt as if the whole community knew each other.

My parents, Connie & John, were active members in Saxilby chapel with my mum organising the music there for most of her life, both as organist and leading the choir. My early memories were of the house full of people coming round for my mum to help them practice their singing or to plan the music for their weddings. It felt as if our house was an extension of the chapel at times, especially as various friends and family, young and old, would come in after the evening service on a Sunday and enjoy socialising over coffee.

It was an incredibly happy childhood, with my aunt and uncle running the grocery shop, my dad being in charge of the bakehouse/deliveries and my mum doing all the bookwork as well as looking after my sister Pauline and myself.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins all lived in the village, so we would meet up regularly with everyone going to chapel and playing a big part in the `family’ of the Godfrey Memorial Methodist Church.   

The sense of being part of such tight-knit community played a huge part in early life, firm foundations that shaped my life.  When I married Ray in 1968, we chose to stay in the village, moving back to my childhood home and taking over the post office when my parents retired.  It was a busy life, living on the premises with postal staff coming and going, but it was enjoyable work, no two days were the same, always on the go, often eventful, sometimes stressful, but hugely rewarding.  The village kept on expanding, new families moved into the village and the business changed, ensuring that life was never boring as passport and currency work brought in different people.  Over the years we met some wonderful, interesting people, giving me a lifelong fascination as to what makes us who we are! 

As our children Peter and Helen became more independent, I started studying various courses exploring how we behave and communicate with each other, and as part of one course I was doing, I had to attend counselling sessions to examine my own life.  It was whilst doing this that the idea of travel to far away places I’d only ever dreamed about began to surface, eventually becoming a reality.  Walking parts of the Great Wall of China, trekking in Nepal, homestay in India, visiting the orangutangs in Borneo, followed by the temples of Cambodia were some memorable trips.  In all of these places, far removed from my own life in Saxilby, I discovered a similar sense of family values and community cohesion, all underpinned by many different faiths.

Unfortunately the long-distant travel came to a halt when I was diagnosed with serious cancer, which tested the faith I’d always accepted from my early years.  Following successful surgery and treatment, things gradually began to return to a new normal, but it was a life-changing experience, which took me on a spiritual journey gradually leading to a renewed sense of faith.  I have always had a passionate sense of fairness for everyone, values instilled all those years ago in my chapel upbringing. That faith is tested each and every day in our troubled times, but I live in hope that goodness will always prevail.

Early in 2020 the pandemic brought life as we’d known it to a sudden halt and it was then that the chapel closed, never to reopen, meaning memories of the many wonderful events enjoyed over the years had no time to be shared within the community. Having time on my hands and because it felt important to ensure the history of the chapel should be recorded, I decided to write the story of Methodism in Saxilby, which I hope you enjoy.