With a lifetime of links to the town, Victoria and Kenners are the archetypal Dartmouth naval couple.
Victoria was born at Rock Park, BRNC’s married quarters; met Kenners at a Naval College summer ball, whilst he was an officer there; married at the college’s church; and have lived with their own family in the college’s married quarters.
Kenners is now a training officer for 815 Naval Squadron, a deep specialist aviator and regularly flies a Lynx helicopter, “training baby aviators”.
'Kenners' & Victoria Kennington
Once a year he can take immediate family up in the air but Victoria said she only volunteered one year she was pregnant, knowing this wouldn’t be allowed, as she ironically has a fear of flying!
Victoria is headmistress of St Christopher’s School. Her mother, Jane Kenyon, founded the Staverton school in 1991, after teaching at St John the Baptist RC School in Dartmouth. Victoria’s father Greg was the bursar, after retiring from the Navy. Victoria took on the headship from her mother in 2008.
The Kenningtons live in the centre of Dartmouth with their three children, Olivia aged 14, Florence aged 10 and Xavier aged 9. Xavier was also born at the Naval College.
Victoria said: “I was one of six children. Daddy was in the Navy and posted to Dartmouth just before I was born. When I was six months old they bought a house in Blackawton in which mum still lives.
“Daddy was a Lieutenant Commander and moved around a lot, but mum and us stayed at Blackawton.”
Victoria and her siblings attended St John the Baptist RC School in Dartmouth and afterwards boarded at All Hallows, in Shepton Mallet. Her sisters and her then attended Leweston in Sherborne and her brothers went to Downside near Bath.
After a gap year in France and Nepal, Victoria studied French and Spanish at the University of Kent at Canterbury.
The summer before she started university, aged 19, she met Kenners on a blind date at a BRNC summer ball. Kenners, who was 28 at the time, was friends with Victoria’s sister who was instrumental in setting the pair up.
Kenners grew up in Cambridgeshire and studied Mathematics and Aircraft Dynamics at Portsmouth University. After travelling for a while and working for one of his father’s companies, he applied to join the RAF, but was told he was too old at 24.
He said: “Thankfully there was a naval chief in the RAF careers office in Cambridge who said ‘come fly with us’ explaining that the Navy fly too. So I joined the Navy by accident.
“I arrived in Dartmouth and was introduced to the Devon hills for my fitness test. I’d done all my running in Cambridgeshire, which is a lot flatter and more forgiving!
“I’ve never looked back though, and love my job. My father was an RAF engineer who said I’d never make it in the forces because of the discipline. But after 20 plus years I think I’ve proved him wrong.”
Despite an injury after qualification, which left him blinded in one eye, Kenners is still loving life, flying helicopters every working day.
He’s now based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. He travels up on a Monday, drops his eldest daughter at Leweston School and returns to Dartmouth with her on Friday evenings.
He added: “I do night and day flights and can often come home during the week if I’m not down to night fly. I’m occasionally sent to sea and am called up for short periods of time at little notice.
“I learnt on a Sea King and worked on the search and rescue helicopters with the Navy before moving to the Lynx. I’ve seen most of the globe, including a nine month Ocean Wave tour.”
Kenners has been involved in conflict in the Balkans and the second Iraq war, launching in a Lynx or Sea King from 4,000 ton frigates and destroyers similar to the guard ship anchored in the River Dart during Regatta week.
He’s been based around the country, including RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, while Victoria was at university in Kent.
He was deployed to Scotland in 1999 and Victoria moved there with him and worked as an airline translator.
In 2000 the couple married at BRNC, in the same church Victoria was christened in. Five years later they moved into married quarters at the college and then decided to stay and make Dartmouth their family home.
Kenners said: “I love Dartmouth. My family love coming to Dartmouth and Victoria’s family are from Dartmouth. This is our home.
“We love the location and being able to walk in and out of town. Lots of our friends call in and stay, including friends from the Navy. I’ve got about seven years of flying left in me and look forward to retiring here too.”
Victoria added: “I feel very much at home here and recognise some of the old faces from my primary school days. We use The Flavel all the time, love the food and music festivals and buying locally from businesses in town.
“The children have the best of both worlds. They can walk into town and go sailing on the river.
“They think Regatta’s better than Christmas and enter all the competitions including crabbing, pavement art and the trolley races.
“Xavier is constantly going crab fishing. He gets his bait from fishmonger Mark Lobb. He loves going down to chat to Mark and collect his fish heads for crabbing.”
The family are all members of Royal Dart Yacht Club. The children follow the junior sailing programme and sailed in dinghies during Regatta.Kenners also sailed in Regatta, in a Contessa 38 with four cadets.
He wouldn’t say what position he came, except that he beat the three other Contessas from the BRNC.
“I’m better steering a Lynx than a Contessa!” he added.
First Published in By The Dart October 2015 Issue
