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In Mijas and Fuengirola, Alan Boardman is the acquainted face of charity quizzes, strolling excursions and the heartwarming Eyedrop for Uganda marketing campaign, gathering spectacles and faculty provides for distant villages in Africa. However behind each nice fundraising man is a fair higher lady, and that’s Jenny Boardman, the quiet powerhouse with a life story that’s equal components journey, ambition and altruism.
With a historical past that spans being one of many first twelve ballgirls at Wimbledon, climbing the ladder in company banking and even dancing on tables in Dublin, Jenny’s journey is a testomony to seizing alternatives with each palms. As she places it, “It’s a must to put your self in the best way of issues. I’ve been fortunate that means – the correct issues have occurred to me on the proper time.”
Jenny’s beginnings outlined her now
Born within the humbler corners of southwest London, “down the hill in Wimbledon”, Jenny’s roots had been modest however motivational. Her mom grew up in such poverty that footwear had been a luxurious, a element that caught with Jenny like glue. “Perhaps that’s why I’ve a factor about kids having footwear. My mum when she was a toddler didn’t at all times have them,” she displays. This early empathy for barefoot childhoods would later gasoline her ardour for serving to children in Uganda, the place she and Alan made positive to ship footwear alongside glasses on their Eyedrop adventures.
From these inexperienced lawns of gathering tennis balls on the world’s most well-known tennis membership, Jenny vaulted into the high-stakes world of banking. Becoming a member of Barclays straight out of her teenagers, she seized a chance and by no means appeared again. “After I joined Barclays, they supplied me a course to do the banking exams, and I by no means appeared again after that,” she says. Her profession skyrocketed; at one level, she grew to become essentially the most senior lady in company banking at Barclays, even operating the Heathrow Airport department with a complete of 250 workers.
Banking high-flyer to prime London Salsa DJ – all in a day’s work for Jenny Boardman
Residing in Westminster—the “celebration place of the world”, as she calls it—Jenny balanced enterprise with dancing and infrequently DJing in London’s premier salsa membership, La Finca. “I had 10 years residing in Westminster, and I used to be out dancing 4 or 5 nights per week.” Who knew spreadsheets and salsa might combine so properly?
By no means one for settling down with children, Jenny’s life took a romantic flip within the early 2000s. A rugby fanatic by Barclays’ supporters membership, she jetted to Dublin for England’s Grand Slam victory. Amid the post-match revelry in a packed lodge reception, Jenny was the lifetime of the celebration, standing on a desk in a Guinness-stained rugby shirt, belting out “The Sexual Lifetime of a Camel” [apparently a popular rugby song]. That’s when Alan, nursing a pint subsequent to her, struck up a dialog. Sparks flew, and shortly Jenny upended her life: quitting her high-flying job, shifting to Manchester and even altering her identify to Boardman by deed ballot.
Escape to Mijas
However Manchester’s drizzly skies quickly dampened her spirits. After one superb summer season adopted by a dismal one, the couple craved sunshine. Alan, having already holidayed in Mijas, whisked Jenny there to see the place, and in 2005 they packed up for Spain. “I at all times thought I wouldn’t find yourself in England,” she quips. Their first thought was to purchase a luxurious minibus to service the thriving Costa del Sol golf business, however 20 years in the past acquiring the suitable licences proved extraordinarily tough. Undeterred, they pivoted to a gemstone store in Mijas Pueblo, remodeling it from a typical vacationer store right into a specialist centre promoting pure crystals and making a hub for expat regulars. That thrived till COVID hit, forcing a rethink.
That’s when the birds got here in—actually. Avid walkers and fledgling birdwatchers, Jenny and Alan had been packing for a Gambia vacation when further baggage house sparked an thought. Alan had been gathering donations on his Mijas Strolling Excursions For Charity – fundraising to assist re-establish the barn owl habitat misplaced in a Sierra de Mijas fireplace – however why cease at feathered pals? “Birds… we each like strolling and birdwatching,” Jenny explains. This developed into the Eyedrop marketing campaign, gathering previous specs and faculty gear for Ugandan villages. Final 12 months, they spent a month there, handing out provides (footwear included!) and sharing updates through social media. A return journey is deliberate for January 2026, and the neighborhood have but once more rallied and picked up greater than ever.
Girl behind all of it
Right now, Jenny’s the organisational wizard behind all of it. As president of their urbanisation, she runs what may be Mijas’ most orderly neighborhood board, due to her banking-honed expertise. “Alan is extra entrance of home. He’s the one for entertaining with the guided walks of Mijas and the charity quizzes, whereas I’m extra within the background organising the whole lot. However, with the Uganda undertaking, we each work on that.” After COVID compelled a store hiatus, they doubled down on charity: “After having 2 years off… we stepped again and had time to consider the whole lot we had been doing.” Alan calls her “an incredible lady”, typically within the background but tireless.
From table-dancing in Dublin to delivering hope in Uganda, Jenny Boardman‘s story is a enjoyable reminder that life’s greatest adventures come from placing your self “in the best way of issues”—and maybe a pair of dancing footwear. Together with her vitality powering the Costa del Sol’s charitable heartbeat, she’s proof that behind each highlight is a star not stealing the present.
