ONE of the country’s oldest residents is preparing to celebrate her 106th birthday.
Joyce Moult was born in London on January 27, 1920.
Now living in Downend with her 80-year-old son Ron, Joyce is set to mark her latest milestone at home with a glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream, her favourite tipple.
Joyce’s earliest memories are of sitting in her high chair as a baby, with her step-brother kicking the chair leg, and writing a letter to a classmate she was “keen on” when she had just started school.
Joyce still remembers his name, Albert Green, and joked: “I was chasing the boys at four!”
Another vivid memory from her youth is seeing disabled veterans from the First World War having to beg on the streets of London during the 1920s and 30s.
Joyce worked in a factory welding doors for Lancaster bombers during the Second World War.
She married husband Ronald in 1942. After the war the family emigrated to South Africa, living near Johannesburg and then in Durban.
Joyce worked for travel agents Thomas Cook, while Ronald worked for a caravan manufacturer and Ron became a photo lithographer, a type of specialist printer.
Ronald died in the 1980s and 14 years ago, after Ron retired, he returned to the UK and then brought Joyce over to live with him. They have lived in Downend for 12 years.
When she is not reading, Joyce likes to have a walk alongside the WG Grace Memorial Ground, the home of Downend Cricket Club, which is close to her home.
Ron said: “She still does everything herself.”
Joyce, who has one grandchild and one great-grandchild, likes a few squares of chocolate and ginger biscuits or cake as a treat.
She is one of around 600 people in the UK aged 105 or over, according to the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Joyce is more than ten years younger than the country’s oldest resident, Ethel Caterham, who turned 116 in August last year and is currently both the world’s oldest living person and oldest Briton in recorded history.
• Do you know anyone older than Joyce living in the Downend area? Contact us at news@downendvoice.co.uk.