Jan's Biography

The youngest of four children, Jan was born near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.  Upon leaving school she went to the University of Manchester where she obtained a degree in Politics and Modern History.

Then, as now, such degrees didn’t provide an entry into any particular career.  Her immediate career choice on leaving university was in a wine merchants, but unfortunately the owner’s business acumen did not match his knowledge of wines and the Collector of Taxes foreclosed – thus providing her with an insight into the power of the Inland Revenue and encouraging her to join that august body.  Seven years’ later she left there and moved to Birmingham.

The technology revolution was beginning to speed up, so after a short course in typing and word processing she joined F International, a company almost entirely staffed by women which sold bespoke computer software to businesses.  Here she learned a lot about organisation, deadlines and, most particularly, that IT was not a career she wished to pursue.

Another seven years passed.  Boredom was beginning to set in, when she saw an advert for a ‘Human Resources Co-ordinator’ for a manufacturing company in the Black Country.  After a very long interview process she was successful, and entered into what proved to be the happiest period of her working life in HR.  The company underwent a massive education programme in modern manufacturing principles, and the knowledge she gained from this experience has been useful in many ways ever since.  However, although the people in the Black Country are wonderful to work with, their dialect is such that she had to have a translator for the first three months of work.

Another opportunity beckoned in 1996 when she moved to the Isle of Man.  Having worked in the food industry for two years, she moved to work for the Isle of Man Post Office, and subsequently Manx Telecom, a subsidiary of BT.  Lots of opportunity for international travel, and the blessing of living in an extraordinary place as well.

Moving to another country is always interesting, and the Isle of Man is no exception.  Although they speak English as a rule, the Manx people do have their own language and are very proud of their traditions. It’s a lovely place to live as long as you can leave it every so often, but living there made the transition to Lincoln much easier, as the slower pace of life is much the same.  Jan moved to Lincoln in 2001, and worked at a senior level at the County Council and the University before seeing the light and becoming a student of acupuncture, again at the University.

Being a practitioner in a discipline which is so rich is an endless source of interest and learning.  Recently she has become interested in the emotional causes of disease and ways in which people can be helped to alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety particularly.