When Jenny Jessup first heard her name announced as the winner of the Graham Hewitt Volunteer of the Year Award, she felt something deeper than pride. It was a moment of honour, connection, and continuity – because she knew Graham. She had worked alongside him. She had seen, first-hand, the legacy he and his wife Juliette built for people living with Multiple Sclerosis across Gosport and Fareham, a duo who were awarded BEM in the Queens New Year Honours list in 2019.
“To win an award named after someone I respected so much… it means everything to me,” she says, smiling.
For Jenny, this award is the story of how she rebuilt her life, and has helped hundreds of others rebuild their lives too.
A life rewritten by MS
Jenny, now 58, lives in Lee‑on‑the‑Solent. “I have spent more time living in Gosport than anywhere else,” she says, after explaining that she spent her childhood moving between Malta, Germany, and across the UK as a force’s child.
Jenny says she has lived in Gosport since 2007, and she wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.
But Jenny’s life changed dramatically long before she arrived in Gosport.
She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2000, while working as an administrator in IT. No one in her family had MS and the diagnosis was a shock. Jenny sadly lost her sight twice, in 1991 and again in 1995.
“I went completely blind and there were no treatments available back then. For a long time MS felt like a black hole that took over my life, as I never knew what symptom I’d wake up with one day to the next.”
I ask Jenny what MS actually is.
“MS is an autoimmune disease. Your immune system attacks the fatty coating that protects your nerves, and once those nerves are damaged, the signals don’t travel properly.
“For me, it started with my optic nerves. Later, another relapse affected the muscles that move my eyes, leaving me with double vision. At different times I’ve lost the use of my left side, my legs, and had severe vertigo. Everyone’s MS looks different. Some function comes back, but it’s never the same for any two people.”
One night, during a particularly frightening episode, Jenny tells me that couldn’t see properly and felt herself spiralling. “The out‑of‑hours doctor arranged for a taxi to deliver medication to my door.
The driver, a complete stranger, handed her the medication and in doing so casually said that he understood what she was going through because he also had MS.
Jenny still remembers the shock of that moment. Someone who got it.
He didn’t rush away. Jenny invited him for tea and he stayed with her for nearly an hour. They talked about the symptoms, the fear of the unknown and the frustration and strange grief that comes with losing the life you thought you’d have. He reassured her in a way that no doctor ever had.
“He gave me such incredible advice,” she says. “He said to me, ‘You have to mourn your old life, and then find a new one.’ I’d never heard anyone say it like that before. It was like someone had finally named what I’d been feeling and gave me direction in how to handle it all.”
That single sentence was honest, compassionate, and strangely freeing for Jenny.
“I never saw him again after that conversation, and he has no idea what he gave me that night. But that conversation was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
That unexpected hour of a stranger’s kindness, a shared diagnosis, a sentence that reframed everything, planted a seed for Jenny. She needed to start living her new life. When Jenny reflects on the years she has since spent volunteering, she realised that moment had quietly shaped her path and new life.
From medical retirement to community strength
Jenny medically retired from administration in 2001.
“I thought, the working world don’t want me anymore so maybe the charity world will.”
Jenny began volunteering with Canine Partners and joined her local library’s reading service. “Canine were instrumental in teaching me how to live my life again,” she says.
In 2014, she then found the place she was meant to be – the Gosport & Fareham MS Group.
Founded in 1980 by Graham and Juliette Hewitt in memory of Juliette’s sister who had MS, the group has long been a lifeline for people living with MS. Jenny started volunteering by offering to help with the website, something she had never done before.
“I went online and taught myself everything. It was exciting to learn something new, challenge myself and be of use to someone.”
That willingness to learn, adapt, and push forward would soon transform the group.
Building a community of strength and movement
After a few years of working on the website, Jenny asked if she could start a weekly Pilates session for attendees.
“Twelve people turned up to the first class. I was completely overwhelmed,” she laughs.
That was back in 2018. Today, the group runs five adapted exercise classes every week, built around the motto: ‘Use it or lose it’.
The classes are flexible, people can stand, sit, or adapt movements to their ability. They include yoga, Pilates, FitBit sessions, and strength work with weights.
“We have two superb instructors and two physiotherapists who support the group by offering drop‑in sessions and individual guidance. We really have gone from strength to strength,” Jenny says. “Everyone in the group either has MS or cares for someone who does and just wants to help them.”
The group also provides counselling, social events, and general day-to-day help. Thanks to Jenny’s relentless grant‑writing, they’ve even secured £20,000 from the National Lottery this year, and £15,000 from Sport England last year, ensuring that the exercises classes can remain free to attendees.
“Even MP Caroline Dinenage visited to see the impact of the funding,” says Jenny.
In 2025, the group became an independent charity and celebrated its first birthday just this month.
“There are eight volunteers in total. Many have MS themselves, but all of them are determined to make a difference.”
A day in Jenny’s life
When I ask what a typical day is like for Jenny, she smiles and says, no two days are the same.
Jenny runs exercise classes for participants three days a week. She applies for grants, supports members, answers calls and enquiries, and generally helps steer the charity.
“I took the advice of the taxi driver that night, and I very much created a new life for myself, otherwise what was the alternative? To spend the remainder of my life grieving the life I never received?
“My life is full of volunteering, community and giving back. I have a wonderful life and no longer let MS ruin it. I love where I live and I have a great community around me.
“Just this morning, when I was out on my mobility scooter walking the dog along the seafront, I spent most of the journey bumping into friends I have made over my years of volunteering.
“I may live on my own, but I’m not on my own. Gosport is fantastic. The people here… they give back and they really care for their neighbours, and I am proud to be a part of that.”
Why Jenny won Volunteer of the Year
Jenny was nominated for Volunteer of the Year by George and Tina and Christine, who are fellow members of the MS group who help run the charity alongside her. They see what she does every day – the hours, the heart, the determination that she puts into the society.
Twelve years of volunteering.
Hundreds of lives touched.
A community strengthened.
A charity transformed.
Jenny is a woman who took the advice of a stranger and turned it into a mission – to help others find their new life too.
** Jenny would like to thank Tina Walker, George McAleese and Christine Turner for nominating her for the award.**
For more information please visit:
https://gosportandfarehamms.org.uk/
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