PAM Johns — Holsworthian, mother, solicitor, pub owner, member of the Court Leet, former town councillor, property trust chair, trustee, secretary and nation board member — is there anything she can’t do?

Pam is ‘a Holsworthy-girl born and bred’ and has dedicated much of her time to supporting her local community.

After years of study and hard work she has risen to the role of partner and rural services team leader at Coodes Solicitors. However, she never planned on becoming a lawyer, with her sights originally set on joining the Forces.

She said: “I never planned to be a lawyer. I planned to be an officer in the WRNS, as I thought they would pay me to play hockey and travel the world. A couple of months before my interview with the Admiralty Board my dad died suddenly. My brother was only eight years old and I felt I couldn’t leave him and my mum, as I would had to have done if I’d joined the WRNS. Then a job came up at the local solicitors as a trainee legal executive. I applied and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Pam qualified as a solicitor in 1994 before setting up the Holsworthy office in 1998 — thirty years later she is proud to say it is still a ‘family firm’.

She said: “In addition to the births of my two children, there are a few others. One was being appointed Head Girl, as that was the result of a vote by my classmates, and another was receiving my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award at Buckingham Palace — I still remember my dear mum floating about six inches above the carpet inside the palace!

“Three years ago I was invited to join the Court Leet here in Holsworthy. It would take me too long to explain the significance of that to non-Holsworthians but, if you’ve a spare hour or so I’ll gladly tell you all about it over a pint or two at The Bradworthy Inn, which I own with my daughter, Robyn.”

Pam still, somehow, found time to lend her support to the creation of the Community Property Trust — which incorporates Homes for Holsworthy — and in 2010 her commitment was recognised with a ‘Rural Housing Award’ presented to her by Princess Anne.

Established as a need arose following the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, Pam as one of the original members explained how the trust came to being: “It came out of the foot and mouth crisis. Holsworthy was exceptionally close to the centre of the outbreak, being just down the road at Highampton — I mean, we had a burn pit on the edge of town!”

Pam said it was grim times for the people of Holsworthy, with many businesses affected.

In 2001 the Holsworthy Market and Coastal Towns initiative (MCTi) was launched, driven by Pam, with an aim of making the town a more inviting place for visitors, locals and shoppers. It was through the MCTi that funding was made available to commission the survey which led to the creation of the property trust.

Pam said: “The government offered £1-million for market towns to regenerate, there wasn’t £1-million for a certain town but a share could be received for consultation exercises, so we had days in the Memorial Hall and pretty much top of the list each time was housing that was affordable.”

From here the idea for a Community Property Trust was born and a team began to assemble. Pam said: “The housing association had a points based system at the time, and we found young people who perhaps were still living at home with mum and dad had no points at all. It was very difficult, as it still is, for people to get onto the property ladder.”

The idea was to set up a trust that would buy, build and manage properties in Holsworthy and the surrounding area. These would then be offered for shared equity sale or rent to local people who were unable to afford open market prices.

Pam said: “David Smith, our former post-master, was at the time chair of the Holsworthy Market and Coastal Towns initiative, which had helped make funding available for things like the refurbishment of the Memorial Hall and the setting up of a community transport group.

“He rang the office of the deputy Prime Minister at the time, [John] Prescott, to find out how you create a community property trust proposal. The person he spoke to said they didn’t know and that he should speak to Bob Paterson. David thought ‘I know that name’ and it turned out this expert lived at Brandis Corner — we couldn’t believe it, we were very fortunate he lived up the road!

“So David set up a meeting and spoke to different people in the community, like John Allen being on MCTi and myself being a lawyer and involved with property, and [Bob] agreed to join the group.”

The newly formed team got to work and set up a private company limited by guarantee in 2005, which later progressed to its current charitable status.

Since then the trust has provided a number of affordable homes for local people in Holsworthy, Sheepwash, Bridgerule and Brandis Corner — with more planned for the future. But it was the trust’s first project at Whitlock Court, in Holsworthy, a conversion of the five flats above Bargain Buys, formerly the Original Factory Shop, that put them on the map. Pam said: “With no track record it was difficult for us to get started but thanks to Bob’s contacts we were able to get funding.

“We bought them below market value and were able to sell them to local people at a 70/30 split. This meant the new owners were able to get a conventional mortgage and the property trust held the balance under an equitable mortgage. This isn’t like shared ownership where the owner pays rent for the shared percentage making the properties genuinely affordable.”

But it isn’t just affordable housing the trust has helped provide. Pam was proud to say that, through the work of the trust, the town’s youth centre lease had been acquired from Devon County Council.

Pam said: “The other great thing we have been able to do is take over the youth centre building. The property trust has taken over the running from Devon County Council and are now talking to them about an asset purchase/buying it from Devon County.

“It was originally run by Community Action Through Sport but is now run by its own youth group and John Allen, a trustee and the property trust’s connection with the centre, is also one of the main volunteers. There are usually around 50 to 60 kids at a session.”

She added: “But it just makes the point the community land trust is not just about housing — it shows we can do other things for the community.”

Pam concluded: “I’m a Holsworthy girl born and bred. I love the place and want to do whatever I can to help it going forward.”