Event Manager extraordinaire Jane Clynes speaks to JLife’s Katherine Howard about planning some of the community’s biggest events, dreaming up creative ideas and keeping her cool.

It’s the day before Yom Tov and Jane Clynes is as busy as a bee when JLife calls at her Alwoodley home for a pre-arranged interview. With steaming pots and pans in the kitchen, the phone ringing off the hook and various finishing touches to arrange and meetings to attend, Jane is unfazed. The week prior she was on a trade mission to Israel for the British Israel Chamber of Commerce (B-ICC) - for which she is Regional Director and has the responsibility of project managing the organisation’s events - and is currently in the throws of helping to organise the Leeds Jewish Community Pride Awards, not to mention various other events. She’s used to spinning plates and getting things done; it’s part of what she does and who she is. Her business, Jane Clynes Events, which organises a host of events including Bar Mitzvahs, weddings and parties, is her passion. It’s also part of her DNA. Her father, George Manning, was the kosher caterer in Leeds after branching out from the family-run Zermansky’s Bakery, which supplied all the Jewish shops in Leeds. Jane recalls: “I was surrounded by weddings and Bar Mitzvahs from an early age. I guess today you would call it event management; life was much simpler back then. Nowadays, organising a party or special event is a bit like creating a production.”

Jane launched her own event company in 2004 after an eclectic career that has involved artistic flair, sales and perfect planning. A former pupil of Allerton High School, she graduated from art college before doing a trainee management course, followed by a career selling advertising for local newspapers and magazines. In the early 1990s she moved on from a successful role at an advertising agency, where she was responsible for new business, after being headhunted to manage a department organising dinners for the Training and Enterprise Council (in conjunction with the Investors in People Awards), and hasn’t looked back. Jane has been working with the B-ICC for over 10 years, initiating and co-ordinating marketing, PR, breakfast clubs and fundraising events. In the last few years Jane became self-employed and incorporated the work she does for the B-ICC into Jane Clynes Events. “Coming up with creative ideas is what I really enjoy, and seeing them through. Sometimes you also need to be creative when things don’t pan out as expected,” she says.

As Jane is well aware, clients aim for a smooth-running event and it’s for the event organiser to iron out the inevitable creases; Jane’s experienced her fair share of unforeseen circumstances: “There’s always something that needs sorting out but that’s what people are paying me for. You just have to get on with it. I can foresee logistical nightmares but there are occasions that you just can’t plan for.” Like the time Jane was locked out of a venue and had to finish making the table decorations on the street; or when a fire alarm forced party guests outside – “I summoned the venue to provide glasses and wine and the party continued outside!”; Jane continues: “I once had a singer, who we’d booked for an event, stranded on the motorway not long before he was due on stage and then another time a coach taking guests to Knaresborough got stuck on a narrow road. Everything always turns out fine, I’m glad to say. Don’t get me wrong, I can be quite hysterical!” laughs Jane, “But sometimes difficulties arise, but you’ve got to take a step back, not overreact and it will sort itself out.”

An event that is particularly close to Jane’s heart is the annual Leeds Jewish Community Pride Awards, which made its debut last year. The awards were initiated through Jonathan Ross, Fundraising Chair at the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board (LJWB), and the Leeds Pride Award committee was subsequently formed. “We look at the Pride of Britain Awards that honour unsung heroes and we think it’s fantastic. In our community there are a lot of people who do amazing work and don’t always get recognised and these awards are a way of addressing that balance and getting everyone involved.”