When Joyce was four, her mum gave her a doll. She then hugged her, said goodbye, and left Jamaica for England to look for work.
Her mum and dad were separated, and Joyce stayed in Kingston with her dad. In Joyce's neighbourhood, there were lots of Chinese and Indian people who had settled in Jamaica to work as labourers after the abolition of slavery. Joyce's family rented their apartment from a family of Chinese shopkeepers who owned some of the nearby properties. Joyce remembers them teaching her how to make kites from bamboo and tissue paper. They'd then take them to the National Arena to fly.
Her mum wrote to her often and sent photos of her life in England.
After four years, her mum had saved up enough for Joyce's airline ticket. Joyce got the plane by herself, and the stewardess looked after her. This was June 1966, and Joyce was 9.
As the plane came in to land, Joyce was surprised at how green the countryside was. She thought Britain would be all white and covered in snow because of the postcards her mum had sent.
Her mum lived in Melksham, Wiltshire and worked at the nearby Bowyers sausage factory. She had remarried and had two small children. Joyce's new stepdad came to collect her from the airport. This was the first time she had ever met him.
When Joyce first saw her mum, she barely recognised her. It had been nearly five years. Joyce thought her mum would be just like she was in the photos she had been sent, where she was dressed up in her best clothes for the photographer. The woman who came to the door had two small kids and was wearing a headscarf and apron.
Joyce remembers feeling awkward when she first met her mum. It wasn't like you see in the films where everyone hugs. Once her mum started asking about people that Joyce knew from Jamaica, she became more sure that it was her mum and started to relax.
At Joyce's new school, there was some name-calling from the kids, adults, and, once, even a policeman. This led to a lot of fighting initially, but there were also lovely people there, and Joyce made some good friends.
There was a white boy at school that Joyce liked, and he also liked her. He said it was a shame she was black because he would've loved to have dated her. It was doubly hard for the black girls at school because the black boys knew how strict their parents were, so they dated white girls instead.
The black kids were only expected to get work in factories. Joyce didn't do her homework once, and the teacher said, you will never get a job at this rate. Joyce wondered why the teacher was making such a fuss if she would only end up doing factory work anyway. Despite her teachers' negativity, Joyce got an office job in the ledger department of Unigate Foods when she finished school.
After work, Joyce barely went out because her parents were strict Christians. Joyce wanted her independence, so she moved to London to live with her auntie in Brixton.
Joyce moved to London to get her independence.
She had a good reference from Unigate and got an office job in Clerkenwell in the office of Hugins Cash Registers.
She then got a job working at Freeman's mail-order catalogue. It was office work, and mainly on the telephone. She'd chat on the phone with the reps and have a laugh. When they came to the office, they'd say, "Where's Joyce?" Some would walk out the door when they realised she was black.
Joyce often walked past a barber shop on her way home from work. One of the barbers would always try to talk to her. At first, she ignored him, but 'things progressed', and eventually, they became a couple. His name was Osmand, and he was from Manchester, Jamaica.
They married in the 'New Testament Church of God' in Brixton. They had two kids, but the marriage didn't work out, and the couple split.
Shortly after, Joyce pulled her back and had to see an osteopath. While being treated, the osteopath kept stopping to answer the phone. Joyce said that he needed a receptionist and that she was looking for a job. She went on to work there for 25 years and will be retiring soon.
Her kids are now grown up, and she also has a 16-year-old granddaughter, who Joyce told me proudly, is a boxer.
Joyce isn't interested in getting a new partner and joked that her daughters probably wouldn't allow it anyway. At a family party, a man once put his arm around her and said, "Hello, my darling" Her daughter came over and said, "Get your hands off her; she's not your darling; she's my mum."
