Janet is a former honorary secretary of the Association of Northumberland Local History Societies and was the Co-ordinator from its inception in 1988 of the ANLHS War Memorials Project in Northumberland and Newcastle, which preceded the National Inventory of War Memorials (now War Memorials Archive) by six months. Janet was made a Life Member of ANLHS.

Janet is a Vice-president of the Morpeth Antiquarian Society, Vice-Chairman of the Northumbrian Language Society, Honorary Treasurer of the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering, and the author and editor of several books.

She was Co-ordinator from 1999 of the War Memorials Group recording project in Tyne and Wear and North Durham and became Chairman when this developed into the North East War Memorials Project in 2004. Janet is also a Regional Volunteer for War Memorials Trust.