FOUNDING member of West Howe Baptist Church Barbara Madge Jordan has died at the age of 94.

Mrs Jordan, known to friends and loved ones as Madge, was born in Dublin due to her father being posted there while he was serving with the army, before the family moved to Bournemouth to live in Pokesdown and Southbourne.

She was a songstress in Pokesdown Salvation Army aged 19 in support of her strong Christian faith and met her future husband, Ken, at school but they got to know each-other better when he joined the band at the Salvation Army.

Mrs Jordan worked as a conductress on the Bournemouth buses, before she went to work in the aircraft factories in Coventry with her husband, Ken. Her daughter, Pauline, said that mother recalled a memory of being treated to beetroot sandwiches every day for a year by a friend while the couple worked in the factory.

Together they moved back to Bournemouth and lived in Sunnyhill Road in Pokesdown, before moving to Kinson when the first council houses were built in the area. However, she found that there was no church for the residents, so she and a group of her neighbours from West Howe set one up.

Mrs Jordan worked with the Girls' Brigade and Mr Jordan helped with the Boys' Brigade Her husband, Ken, worked as a BT engineer for 40 years and was commended for being the longest serving engineer for the company.

They were married for 73 years before Mr Jordan died aged 94 last year and together they had four children, Marian, Nigel, Ken and Pauline, who all still live in Dorset.

Their daughter, Pauline, said that her parents were very much a team in different ways and said that her father always supported her mother in her decisions, despite him not being a devout Christian.

Mrs Jordan was profoundly deaf and loved to read books such as autobiographies and also read the bible every day. She was named by Bournemouth Libraries as the oldest continuous member in the town, having borrowed books from the town's libraries for over 80 years.

She was described as a woman of great faith, who was very family orientated and showed great tolerance in spite of her Christian beliefs. She was also described as an accomplished lady who preferred to stay in the background and someone who would never say a bad word against anyone.