Joyce Wilton and Norman Maycock were born into large South London
working class families in 1933 and 1928 respectively.
As a child during the war Joyce was evacuated from London twice and was bombed out of her house in Rotherhithe. Her mum found the family another house in Surbiton. Joyce won a scholarship to Tiffin Girls' Grammar School, but had to leave early to take a job to help support her family. Norman was called up to serve in the army at the end of the war and, after basic training, was posted to North Africa. Like many of his brothers, Norman's first civilian employment was as an apprentice fitter at the gas board. Norman's family's life together in a large council house in Teddington was documented in the December 28 1946 edition of Illustrated magazine.
Norman and Joyce met in a cinema queue in Kingston, fell in love and were married at St Andrew's Church, Surbiton in 1952. They lived in the house in Surbiton with Joyce's family at first. Money was tight, but they did manage to afford a belated honeymoon in Torquay.
They had three children: David (1954) and Linda (1956) were born whilst they lived in Surbiton, and Kenneth (1960) was born after their move to Crawley, a New Town thirty miles south of London, where Norman obtained work as a maintenance engineer at Lyons Bakery. When Norman suffered a bad workplace accident that resulted in the loss of a finger and extensive skin grafts, Joyce had to find employment and care for three children on her own. She did this, without complaint of course, and after some years Norman recovered and was able to return to work. He eventually rose to the position of Chief Engineer of the Universal Fisher Group of companies. Meanwhile Joyce took a series of jobs, culminating in a stock-control position at Edwards High Vacuum, where she was an early computer user.
During the years that the children were growing up, family holidays at holiday camps were a highlight of every summer. The first such holiday was at The Country Club holiday camp on the Isle of Wight - Joyce's mum came along too. Other favourites were Pontins in Brixham and Blue Waters in Seaton, but the regimented early morning wake-up and breakfast routine at Butlins in Minehead did not go down too well, especially after an eleven hour car journey stuck in the notorious west country traffic jams. Family day-trips to Battersea Park funfair, Chessington Zoo, Hampton Court Palace, Brighton, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis were also greatly enjoyed.
Norman and Joyce were proud of the accomplishments of their children in further and higher education. When the children had left home, Norman and Joyce were able to enjoy holidays abroad for the first time: Corfu, Cyprus and Spain were favourite destinations. In later years they very much enjoyed their vacations in Jersey.
After renting all their lives, Joyce and Norman were finally able to buy a house in Crawley. When they retired they sold up and bought a bungalow on the south coast, in the pretty Sussex village of East Preston. They enjoyed life there, making many good friends among their neighbours, shopkeepers and the regulars at the British Legion. Joyce took a keen interest in local history and joined the local history society. She also worked as a volunteer in a charity shop once a week. Norman took a part-time job as a driver at an educational centre for people with severe learning disabilities. He gained great satisfaction from teaching gardening skills at this centre. Norman was a skilled and knowledgeable gardener who spent a great deal of his time at home creating, tending and relaxing in his beautiful garden. Their favourite places for meals out were the Sea Lane Café, where magnificent full English breakfasts with a sea view were the attraction, and the Woodman Arms pub, where the proprieters were always friendly and the food was always great. They also enjoyed visiting nearby Arundel where they enjoyed feeding the birds at the wildfowl centre and calling in at The Swan or The Tudor Rose for a meal.
Norman and Joyce were overjoyed to become grandparents in 1997 when Hannah was born. Although she always lived overseas, Hannah visited them regularly, accompanied by one or both parents. Hannah always looked forward to these trips to England, where
Grandad would teach her gardening and Nanny would read to her.
Joyce's health gradually deteriorated and in the summer of 2003 she was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation to repair an aortic aneurism. Thanks to the skill of the doctors and her own tough resilience she surprisingly survived this operation and appeared to be well on the road to recovery. However, the following year, she suddenly collapsed at home and was taken to hospital where she passed away the next day, March 13 2004. Norman was of course deeply affected by this, but it was a great shock to everyone when he passed away in his sleep, from natural causes, on March 18 2004.
As a child during the war Joyce was evacuated from London twice and was bombed out of her house in Rotherhithe. Her mum found the family another house in Surbiton. Joyce won a scholarship to Tiffin Girls' Grammar School, but had to leave early to take a job to help support her family. Norman was called up to serve in the army at the end of the war and, after basic training, was posted to North Africa. Like many of his brothers, Norman's first civilian employment was as an apprentice fitter at the gas board. Norman's family's life together in a large council house in Teddington was documented in the December 28 1946 edition of Illustrated magazine.
Norman and Joyce met in a cinema queue in Kingston, fell in love and were married at St Andrew's Church, Surbiton in 1952. They lived in the house in Surbiton with Joyce's family at first. Money was tight, but they did manage to afford a belated honeymoon in Torquay.
They had three children: David (1954) and Linda (1956) were born whilst they lived in Surbiton, and Kenneth (1960) was born after their move to Crawley, a New Town thirty miles south of London, where Norman obtained work as a maintenance engineer at Lyons Bakery. When Norman suffered a bad workplace accident that resulted in the loss of a finger and extensive skin grafts, Joyce had to find employment and care for three children on her own. She did this, without complaint of course, and after some years Norman recovered and was able to return to work. He eventually rose to the position of Chief Engineer of the Universal Fisher Group of companies. Meanwhile Joyce took a series of jobs, culminating in a stock-control position at Edwards High Vacuum, where she was an early computer user.
During the years that the children were growing up, family holidays at holiday camps were a highlight of every summer. The first such holiday was at The Country Club holiday camp on the Isle of Wight - Joyce's mum came along too. Other favourites were Pontins in Brixham and Blue Waters in Seaton, but the regimented early morning wake-up and breakfast routine at Butlins in Minehead did not go down too well, especially after an eleven hour car journey stuck in the notorious west country traffic jams. Family day-trips to Battersea Park funfair, Chessington Zoo, Hampton Court Palace, Brighton, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis were also greatly enjoyed.
Norman and Joyce were proud of the accomplishments of their children in further and higher education. When the children had left home, Norman and Joyce were able to enjoy holidays abroad for the first time: Corfu, Cyprus and Spain were favourite destinations. In later years they very much enjoyed their vacations in Jersey.
After renting all their lives, Joyce and Norman were finally able to buy a house in Crawley. When they retired they sold up and bought a bungalow on the south coast, in the pretty Sussex village of East Preston. They enjoyed life there, making many good friends among their neighbours, shopkeepers and the regulars at the British Legion. Joyce took a keen interest in local history and joined the local history society. She also worked as a volunteer in a charity shop once a week. Norman took a part-time job as a driver at an educational centre for people with severe learning disabilities. He gained great satisfaction from teaching gardening skills at this centre. Norman was a skilled and knowledgeable gardener who spent a great deal of his time at home creating, tending and relaxing in his beautiful garden. Their favourite places for meals out were the Sea Lane Café, where magnificent full English breakfasts with a sea view were the attraction, and the Woodman Arms pub, where the proprieters were always friendly and the food was always great. They also enjoyed visiting nearby Arundel where they enjoyed feeding the birds at the wildfowl centre and calling in at The Swan or The Tudor Rose for a meal.
Norman and Joyce were overjoyed to become grandparents in 1997 when Hannah was born. Although she always lived overseas, Hannah visited them regularly, accompanied by one or both parents. Hannah always looked forward to these trips to England, where
Grandad would teach her gardening and Nanny would read to her.
Joyce's health gradually deteriorated and in the summer of 2003 she was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation to repair an aortic aneurism. Thanks to the skill of the doctors and her own tough resilience she surprisingly survived this operation and appeared to be well on the road to recovery. However, the following year, she suddenly collapsed at home and was taken to hospital where she passed away the next day, March 13 2004. Norman was of course deeply affected by this, but it was a great shock to everyone when he passed away in his sleep, from natural causes, on March 18 2004.