I went down to Slade Yard to spend an hour or so talking to Jonathan Jempson about his life and loves.
His family were all born and bred around Rye, and Jonathan burst forth into the world, probably on a fork lift truck, in 1943. They were all brought up as a family of strict Baptists, a religion that has had only a few lasting influences throughout his life, one being the chapel music and the fact that on a Sunday all you were allowed to do, other than religious things, was to play the piano and sing hymns. In fact, he recalls taking friends home was always a no-no, because of the need to attend chapel (one and a half hours of hellfire and gloom) and not being allowed to play normally on a Sunday.
Despite all the hymn singing, it was discovered he had a bit of a brain on him, and so was sent off to Tonbridge School, being the first of his family to go to public school. This self-same brain still marginally manifested itself, so his house master, a small pompous individual, encouraged him to go to university. It was too late in the academic year to try for Oxbridge, but Edinburgh was on the cards and he says it changed his life. His huge regret is that he never wrote and thanked his house master., a regret that still rankles today within his perception of good manners.
He read languages and commerce, but didn’t indulge in music or sport because he had suddenly began to taste the joys of discovering the opposite sex. Lucky to get a degree at all, he says.
He came down to a business he had very little heart for, but realising that it was his destiny, he became successful and pretty good at the whole complicated operation of hours, schedules, drivers, loads and back loads etc. In the process, he employed lots of locals over many years, many staying on because they liked the work and also probably because they liked Jonathan. The other local shopkeeping Jempsons are distant cousins.
Jempson’s trucking business was started by his grandfather’s uncle in 1866 using horses and carts. His father saw the light and in the 1930s gave his last horse its last oats, patted its rump and invested in the internal combustion engine. Now with at least 80 lorries, and seen delivering all around the country, they are a source of pride to Rye.
Jonathan tells of one story to illustrate how hard the young were expected to work in those days:
His father (aged just 10) was detailed by his grandfather to fetch a load from Bilsington and deliver to Stone, and to come back the country way so to as to avoid the 6p toll on the Military Road. Poor lad, having started work at 2am, fell fast asleep on the way home, and the horse went his own way, incurring the toll charge, so young John was sent to bed with no supper. Tough love!
Jonathan had played a small amount of squash at university, and it seemed obvious with the facilities and social life of the Rye Tennis Club just up the road, that he should take advantage of it all (with a fair bit of sporting success if the leader boards in the club room are anything to go by). So it was in the 70s that Jonathan was co-opted onto various committees by Bimby Holt, to help run the club.
It has to be said here and now that the days of exclusivity are well and truly over, as about a decade ago the club gained Community Amateur Sports Club status (CASC), meaning absolutely anyone can join without being proposed or seconded (unlike most other clubs and golf clubs etc). Also recently, Hotshoz, a Kent based tennis coaching organisation, has been appointed with the specific remit to involve the locals and local schools and to bring in the young. Shouldn’t be too difficult with eight of some of the most highly considered grass courts in England; three hard courts; two padel courts and two squash courts.
So back to the influence of religion with all the hymn singing and piano playing – his love of music crystalised into opera and the human voice. Every winter for 13 years now, Jonathan has organised four young aspiring opera singers from the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists section to come to various locations to perform for us, the latest venue being the creative centre (all in aid of tennis club funds). This is a huge and wonderful oversubscribed evening, bringing some of the finest voices in the land to Rye, pure joy.
I asked Jonathan a few of the ordinary questions, like favourite singer, composer, author…too many to choose, but that Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddley Squat was by the loo. So, instead: “Who would you have to your 80th birthday party? You may name four.”
“Ok, Sophia Loren.” Go on, I say. “No, no-one else!” Well really…
Image Credits: Sarah Jempson .