downsmail.co.uk Garry Barker
A FORMER production editor at the Kent Messenger has died at the age of 61. Garry Barker oversaw the department which produced the Maidstone, Malling, Weald and Medway editions of the agship publication. He guided his team through tough times as the company migrated to new ways of working against the backdrop of a struggling media industry.
Brought up in
Medway, Garry went to Gillingham Grammar School before studying for an English degree at a London university. He joined the Whitstable Times as a junior reporter in 1982, but moved to the KM with the Kentish Gazette and then later as chief reporter of the Faversham News in 1988. He left the media group in 1995 to write a book about the punk band, The Clash, returning to the KM three years later as a sub-editor. In 2010, Garry was appointed group production editor, a pressurised role which colleagues said he carried out with unappable, good humour. Garry was an avid follower of Kent and England cricket, a dog enthusiast, walker and a lover of pubs, red wine and real ale. He and his partner, journalist Claire
Stevens, had been supporters of Leeds Amateur Dramatic Society’s annual panto and summer Plays and Picnics in the village over many years. He was remembered as a kind, funny and loyal friend who never took himself too seriously. He suffered a short period of ill-health a couple of years ago but recovered well. Lately, he had felt unwell and died peacefully at home on June 18. Garry leaves his partner, Claire.
Dorothy Bragg
THE death in Australia has been announced of Dorothy Bragg (92), formerly of Egerton. Mother-of-two Dorothy, a
Mancunian, lived in Avalon Beach in Australia, but was well-known in Kent as a probation officer who worked at Chatham, Ashford and Maidstone prisons. She was married to Harry, headmaster of
Bower Grove School, Maidstone. Having herself started work as a teacher, Dorothy found her true calling as a probation officer, becoming the rst female to hold the role in a British male prison. She earned respect for her management of the hardest prisoners including gang leader Charlie Richardson and Great Train Robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds. Daughter Billy said: “She was very good at her job because she was non- judgemental, but not soft either.” In 1988, with Harry having retired early, Dorothy took a temporary job exchange in Australia, a move that led to the family taking up permanent residence. She worked into her 70s and remained active to the end of her life. Widowed in 2020, Dorothy leaves her daughters and grandchildren Alexia, Lucienne and Jamison. She lived just long enough to see great grand-daughter, Augie.
Nancy Hill
NANCY Hill, a resident of Teston for almost 20 years and a Labour Party stalwart, has died aged 93.
As a young woman with a passion for politics, she initially worked as a shorthand typist with her “beloved” party. At the age of 30, she became female Labour organiser in the West Country. Nancy later worked in the London area and, in the following years, could count former Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, as well as former House of Commons Speaker, Betty Boothroyd, among her associates. After she retired in 1981, Nancy lived for 22 years in a house in Red Hill, Wateringbury, which she restored with the help of friends, before eventually settling in Courtlands, Teston. She
travelled widely, to countries including Russia, China, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, and the Caribbean as well as Australia where she visited her niece Carole and family.
Her other niece, Diane, spoke of her aunt as a “force of nature, a rebel with a cause”, someone who never lost her zest for life despite the hardship of losing husband John to cancer only seven years after they married.
Diane also paid tribute to Nancy's support for charitable causes. Her nal wish, that her ashes be scattered under a large tree on the cricket pitch boundary in Teston, was fullled in early June by Diane and husband Graham.
Penny Kemp
HEADCORN’S Penny Kemp (72) was a signicant gure in Green politics and activism both locally and nationally. She founded the Headcorn
Sustainability Group and the Maidstone Green Fair which was a xture of local life for many years.
Green spokesman Stuart Jeffery said: “Penny was massively committed to sustainability. If you asked for advice, you would get bucketloads of brilliant answers.” Penny stood for local elections, securing a parish seat, coming within a few hundred votes of
securing a borough council seat and polled almost 800 votes when standing for parliament in Faversham and Mid Kent in 2001. She worked in the Green Party press office with Caroline Lucas, the party’s only MP, and served on its executive committee. Headcorn Conservative Martin Round said: “We shared our love of various arts and music as we enjoyed the Small World Festivals that she brought to Headcorn at her home in Grigg Lane. We always had more in common than differences.” Penny was a mother and grandmother and leaves her partner, Johan Sikora.
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