Pat was born in Ashton-under-Lyne and is the second son of Frances and Sydney Jenner. He was educated at St Mary’s School and has memories of the Blitz and bombs dropping on Ashton as a young boy.
After leaving school Pat became an apprentice saw maker. However, he didn’t enjoy this work and after six months left to work in Texas Mill, manufacturing cotton textiles. Whilst there he joined the local textile union – the South East Lancashire Card, Blowingroom and Ringroom Operatives Association. This signalled the start of his career in the trade unions. Pat became Shop Representative in 1963 and then in 1968 became a member of the Union’s Executive Committee. In 1971 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Union and undertook a considerable amount of training in industrial relations and tribunals through the union’s education system. When, in 1988, his union (by now the Textile and Allied Workers Union) merged with the G.M.B., Pat was promoted to Regional Organiser of the G.M.B. in Oldham, before taking early retirement in 1995.
Pat volunteered for the youth service at the village youth club in Tintwistle in 1979 and qualified as a youth worker in 1983. He was worker in charge at various youth clubs, including Tintwistle, Hadfield, Whitfield and Gamesley and also worked on the E2E project at Chapel-en-le-Frith Youth Centre. Although Pat retired from the youth service in 2005 he continued to work for his local youth club in Tintwistle until June 2010, when he was presented with a glass plaque from Tintwistle Gala Committee for “Work in the Community”. He also received a Derbyshire Excellence in the Community Award in 2010.
Pat is an avid campaigner and is currently campaigning to keep the 397 Speedwell Bus subsidy in place, to retain this important transport link through the local villages between Glossop and Hyde.
Pat is a family man, married to Jean, with a son and daughter and five grandchildren. He is a very keen gardener, having an allotment and growing his own fruit and vegetables. He also enjoys cooking, dominoes and music, particularly rock’n’roll and brass bands. Pat is a keen supporter of Manchester City FC and goes to watch them occasionally with his son and grandsons.