Joyce Begbie – 24th January 1924 – 2nd February 2009 Born in Camberwell, South London, daughter of James and Florence Carpenter, her brother, Eric (2 years older – always the “favourite” according to Joyce). The family moved to Welling in Kent when she was very young. Her love of animals and nature manifested itself early – she desperately wanted to be a kennel maid after school but instead was encouraged to get herself a “steady job” in the Post Office, where she continued her education as a post girl in London. She often regaled us with stories of travelling every day to London during the Blitz. Throughout her life, she always considered herself a Londoner and loved to visit her old haunts. Family holidays as a child and in early married life were always spent in Devon – her Mother’s family was from Exmouth and, as a family, the Carpenters would travel in motorbike and sidecar (her Father’s pride and joy, much to the disgust of her Mother, who craved a brand new Austin 7 in which she would have travelled in style). These early holidays instilled a love of Devon in Joyce and she was thrilled to travel back there in later years. As a young married couple, Joyce and Alex moved from London to Totnes in Devon, drawn by the prospect of a new career after the war. Tough times, with three young children, very little money and poor living conditions, but we get the sense that they were also very happy times. When Joyce first moved to the outskirts of Bristol from Devon she absolutely hated it! She thought Bristol was a dreadful, dirty, uninteresting place, not a patch on Devon. But she gradually grew to love it – and wherever she travelled in her 85 years, she always thought that home was best. First and foremost a Mother, she was of the generation of women who devoted their lives to their family. However, as the children grew older, she took on “little jobs” and went to work at the Post Office Central Telegraph Office and then moved onto the news room of the BBC in Bristol, where she used the tele-printer skills she’d learned at the Post Office as a girl. Joyce applied for a job in the newly formed Natural History Film Library at the BBC and seemingly found her ideal job. When she retired from the BBC in 1984, the tributes indicate that she was the backbone of the library. The entry in the Ariel Magazine stated “We’ve always joked in the office that no single person will be able to fill the gap when Joyce leaves. There’s many a true word spoken in jest, because computer terminals will soon be installed to help her successor. But all the hardware and software will be no substitute for Joyce’s superb memory, sound advice and special brand of common sense”. After her retirement, Joyce began another phase of her life, devoted to her family but also to doing the things that she really wanted to do. She travelled to Scotland, South Africa, New York, throughout Europe, Wyoming and the San Juan Islands. The time she spent with family and friends were very precious, but above all, Joyce loved her independence, her own space, her home and her country. She generously shared her love of life, was always interested in new ideas – and even tackled technology at the age of 80 by taking up a course to master the internet – mainly because she wanted to send emails to her friends overseas and her grandchildren. While Joyce never really got to grips with the finer points of text speak and mobile phones, she had a great time making new friends and laughing about their various inadequacies (a lot of tea and biscuits were consumed during these computer classes!) People were attracted to Joyce and she was always surrounded by family and friends. People valued her as someone you could always go to for a chat, she loved to hear your latest news and share the developments in her own family. If you were worried, you knew that she would help you with her optimistic and non-judgemental approach to life and you would always leave feeling lighter and with a new and positive perspective.