A FORMER Kent Messenger Group journalist, Jean Newport, has died after a long illness. She was 66.

Mrs Newport touched the lives of many people during her career and was well respected within the profession.

She trained as a reporter in Canterbury and became a trainee on the Herne Bay Press. She began her career with the Kent Messenger Group in 1967 as a sales person before becoming a news reporter in Larkfield and later on Kent Life magazine.

In 1979 she moved to work for the Kentish Express in Ashford where she was women’s features editor and had a column called Express Women.

Mrs Newport was involved in major campaigns and appeals, including the Ethiopia Appeal to raise money for charities. Events she organised attracted people from all over the district as well as celebrity guests.

She lived with her husband Tony in Ashford before moving to Bonnington in 1986. She had a love of horses, which ran in the family, and would often travel to watch her son Christopher, who was an amateur jockey, take part in races.

But writing was her chief love. Her husband said: “She really did enjoy her writing. It was her life. She was regarded as a friend by everyone she met and she was an extremely good listener. She loved meeting people and hearing about their lives.”

Mrs Newport spent her final three years at Madeira Lodge residential home in Littlestone where she lost her long battle with Alzheimer’s. The family has asked for all donations to be given to the Alzheimer’s Society.