Remembering Mum, Joyce Jenkins (1945-2001)
On the 8th February, 2026 it will be 25 years since my Mum died. In one breath it doesn't seem that long ago, in another it's forever. I thought I would take the time to share some of her story to mark the occasion. Mum was born Joyce Winifred Jenkins on 28th December 1945 in Erdington, which is now part of Birmingham.
At the time of Joyce's birth, her parents, George Hollings and Winifred May (known as Win) Jenkins, were living at 49 New Street, Erdington with Win's widowed mother, Ann Hopkins, and Joyce's older brother, Roger (known as Rog). Joyce wasn't keen on her middle name of Winifred, named after her mother, so when I was born, rather than carry on the family naming tradition, I was given the middle name of Anne, after Joyce's maternal grandmother.
Born just after the end of the Second World War, Mum remembered her parents growing vegetables in the garden and keeping chickens. I always remember her telling me she had a favourite chicken that was all white, and how traumatised she was when it was served up for lunch one day! In an era of seaside holidays being popular, George's uncle, another George Jenkins and his wife, Lilly, took the family on holiday. One trip remembered by Mum's brother was a trip to Bridlington, Yorkshire in 1950 another was to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. They also used to visit Stratford upon Avon as a family.
By 1950 the family had moved to 195 Moor End Lane where they stayed until both Rog and Mum got married. Mum first attended Moor End Lane Primary and Junior school and then later moved to Erdington Grammar School. I'm yet to hunt for any school records (mental note: must add to "to do" list). Sadly, Mum's parents, George and Win separated in the late 1950s. From what I understand it was a fairly acrimonious split and Mum did not see her Dad for many years. The divorce was finalised in 1965 and both remarried in the couple of years that followed. As a result of Win becoming a single parent, family finances were difficult. Mum therefore had to leave school at 16 years old to get a job. She started at the Inland Revenue and worked her way up to being a “Tax Officer”.
In the early 1960s Mum met my Dad, Brian Young, at a dance in Erdington. They married in 1966 in Castle Bromwich, where Dad was from. As things were difficult between her parents George was not invited to the wedding, though Mum was convinced she spotted him watching from the other side of the road when they came out of the church. Win was a dressmaker and made Mum's wedding dress, Mum's brother, Rog, gave her away. Mum and Dad honeymooned in St Ives, Cornwall but also spent time in Clovelly, Devon where the photo below was taken (and yes, before anyone says it, I am totally against animals being used as photo props, Mum would have been too now).
Mum and Dad lived in Moor End Lane to start with but soon moved to their first home in Burntwood, Staffordshire, with the help of a wedding present of some cash toward the deposit, from Win's second husband, Arthur Hearn. The house in Filton Avenue cost around £3,300 and Dad remembers they bought from plans and couldn't afford the extra £60 for a colour bathroom suite! We still lived there when I was born, but Dad's job as a mechanical engineer meant we moved several times for his work. We lived in Hereford for just over a year and settled in Sutton Coldfield by the late 1970s, where my younger brother was born. When I was born Mum became a "stay at home" Mum.
By the early 1980s my brother had started school and Mum returned to work, first attending night school to get certificates in typing to do "temping" work, and later returning to the Tax Office. In the mid 80s my parents separated, and I know Mum was influenced by her own experiences when she tried to keep everything as normal as possible for us. We even all had Christmas lunch together that first year.
It took a while for Mum to start dating again, but by the late 1990s she had found happiness again with another Brian and he moved into our new home.
Sadly, we lost Mum to ovarian cancer on the 8th February, 2001, three months to the day after she was diagnosed. I was not yet 30, my brother only 21, she has missed so much of our lives. She has a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters and two step granddaughters, not to mention all the various pets she would have loved to get to know.
Mum loved everything to do with nature, she was the Secretary of the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund for several years. One of the hobbies she shared with my Dad was a love of gardening. We used to go to the local Sutton Park for drives and walks and I can distinctly remember the embarrassment of her being pulled over by the police for "driving too slow" to which her response was "sorry, I was looking for birds". She loved telling stories about family members and the family tree, and it is she who gave me the bug. She was fiercely passionate about supporting her children, and I see that in myself and my brother now.
Thank you for reading her story.
