It is with great sadness that Guild members learned of the loss of our Founder and Honorary President Mrs Jean O’Donnell MBE.

Jean trained as a teacher in the 1950s and moved to Hereford in 1960 where she taught at Trinity Junior School and Hereford Technical College. In 1976 she became the Tutor Organiser for the WEA for Herefordshire and South Shropshire.

With a passionate interest in local history, she joined the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club in the 1960s and eventually served as President three times, writing many papers for the Annual Transactions. This included a study of the Reverend John Venn and the Society for Aiding the Industrious, for which she was a long term Trustee. This was later developed into a book of the same title, published in 2007 by Logaston Press. It was also through her determination that a new facsimile edition of the Herefordshire Pomona was published by the Folio Society.

In 1981 she formed the Hereford Guild of Guides as a non profit making, voluntary organisation with the purpose of assisting and promoting tourism in the city. From the beginning we were accepted as the official Mayor’s Guides and wear the City Coat of Arms on our badges. Jean instituted a comprehensive training course for new Guides to ensure accuracy in guiding as far as possible, which the Guild continues to hold every three years.

As Head Guide in 2010 Jean accepted, on behalf of the Guild, the first ever Mayoral Commendation. In 2011 the Guild was delighted to celebrate the honour of the award of the MBE to Jean, for her services to the community. In June 2022 she was awarded Freedom of the City of Hereford.

Jean is remembered by her friends and colleagues in the Guild as being hugely knowledgeable, with an encyclopaedic brain and commanding great respect. She also had a strong sense of humour and fun; she dubbed a series of field trips to visit historic Herefordshire village churches the “Thirst for Righteousness,” and these trips always culminated in a visit to the village pub!

The Guild and Hereford City owe Jean a great debt. She died peacefully in her home at the age of 93 and will be missed by all who knew her. We extend our deepest condolences to her family.